The chair of the UK's official fiscal watchdog has stepped down after an urgent investigation found serious failings in how the organisation accidentally published the Chancellor's budget nearly an hour before its official release.
Resignation Follows Damning Report
Richard Hughes tendered his resignation as chair of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) on Monday. This followed the publication of a report which labelled the incident the worst failure in the OBR's 15-year history. The inquiry was launched after the watchdog's Economic and Fiscal Outlook (EFO) for the November budget was made accessible online 40 minutes early.
In letters to Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Treasury select committee chair Meg Hillier, Hughes stated he took "full responsibility" for the shortcomings identified. He emphasised the vital role of the OBR in UK fiscal policy and said it was critical that public confidence be maintained.
"The inadvertent early dissemination of our economic and fiscal outlook on 26 November was a technical but serious error," Hughes wrote. He added that his departure would allow the organisation he had led for five years to "move on" from the regrettable incident.
Technical Failure and Historical Precedent
The rapid investigation, assisted by former National Cyber Security Centre chief Ciaran Martin and overseen by independent board members, uncovered a significant procedural flaw. The OBR had uploaded the sensitive budget documents to a web link it believed was private.
However, due to a specific add-on used with its WordPress publishing system, the link was live and publicly accessible without the OBR's knowledge. More alarmingly, the report revealed this was not an isolated event. Evidence suggested the draft EFO for the March 2025 budget was also accessed prematurely on one previous occasion.
Political Fallout and Treasury Concerns
The leak has added to criticisms that the run-up to the budget was marked by unusual chaos. The Conservative opposition has called for Chancellor Reeves to resign over pre-budget briefings that allegedly misrepresented the OBR's forecasts.
While Treasury ministers thanked Hughes for his service, they notably did not express regret over his resignation. In the Commons, Treasury chief secretary James Murray raised serious concerns about evidence that someone attempted to access the November documents multiple times before the official release.
"This unfortunately leads us to consider whether the reason they tried to persistently access the EFO is because they have been successful at a previous fiscal event," Murray stated. He confirmed the Treasury would contact previous chancellors regarding these developments.
Hughes's resignation came just days after Chancellor Reeves publicly expressed confidence in him during an interview with the Guardian.
