The comments were made during an event held by Policy@Manchester last week.
Chote said: “Personally, I think having independent scrutiny of opposition policies is a jolly good idea in principle”. It would be “better for the parties, for policy development and for public debate,” he said, adding that “the Dutch have found it helps in pulling together coalition agreements”. But he said that implementing the policy would require Parliamentary approval, and parties would need to publish manifestos far earlier than at present.
Hodge said: “[Chote] is located in the Treasury, so much as he likes to feel like he is independent, for us sitting there watching it, it doesn’t feel desperately independent.”