UK lawmakers back Haskel as next chair of budget forecasting office

LONDON, July 16 (Reuters) - Jonathan Haskel, a former Bank of England interest rate-setter and economics professor, has won the support of lawmakers to become the new head of Britain's budget forecasting agency.

Parliament's Treasury Committee said in a statement on Thursday that its members had decided that Haskel "has the appropriate professional competence and personal independence for the role".

Haskel was named by Britain's Treasury to replace Richard Hughes, who resigned as the Office for Budget Responsibility's chair after it prematurely published a report with details of finance minister Rachel Reeves' budget in November.

On Wednesday, Haskel told the Treasury Committee that he was less optimistic than most other analysts about the outlook for the country's economy and said Britain was "not in a very good fiscal position".

The committee has a veto over who is appointed to chair the OBR.

(Writing by William Schomberg; editing by David Milliken)