US EditionHead of UK's OBR quits over early release of budget report
Richard Hughes resigned after the Office for Budget Responsibility's Economic and Fiscal Outlook was prematurely published, prompting a forensic review involving the National Cyber Security Centre.
- Richard Hughes resigned to allow the Office for Budget Responsibility to `quickly move on` after the Economic and Fiscal Outlook was published online Last Wednesday before Chancellor Rachel Reeves's Budget speech.
- Treasury ministers say an OBR error may have caused early release of previous forecasts, and the March 2025 EFO appears to have been accessed prematurely, suggesting prior vulnerabilities.
- Technical review flagged missing protections such as passwords and randomised URLs, and the first IP address on Budget morning had made 32 prior attempts starting around 5am.
- The Treasury will contact previous chancellors and work with the National Cyber Security Centre to carry out an urgent forensic examination of other fiscal events, and ministers backed a `deeper forensic investigation` into prior OBR disclosures.
- The Treasury minister warned that market-sensitive forecasts may have been prematurely accessible to a small group of market participants, and ministers described the release as a `fundamental breach` while examining systemic risk.
48 Articles
48 Articles
OBR head's shock resignation turns the heat up on Rachel Reeves
Yesterday, 1 December, Richard Hughes – head of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) – resigned from his post. He jumped ship over his role in the recent fiasco around the premature publication of the Economic & Fiscal Outlook (EFO) prior to Rachel Reeves‘ Budget speech on 26 November. Reeves is already in the hotseat over claims that she misled the public regarding the negativity of the UK’s financial outlook. In a 4 November speech, Reev…
OBR leaders attack Reeves again for misleading public before Budget
The Budget watchdog has opened up fresh divisions with the Treasury in a series of coded jabs at the way Rachel Reeves tried to shift the blame for tax rises. Richard Hughes, chair of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), resigned on Monday over the leak of Budget documents before the Chancellor’s speech last week. His decision to step down came after Reeves had refused to back him and Sir Keir Starmer publicly cast doubt on key OBR decisi…
UK budget watchdog chief resigns after early leak
On November 26, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) mistakenly published its November Economic and Fiscal Outlook (EFO) more than 40 minutes before the official presentation of the budget by Chancellor Rachel Reeves in Parliament. This unprecedented error exposed the government’s key tax, spending and economic forecasts ahead of public release, prompting immediate political and market… Source
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