The chairman of the Office for Budget Responsibility, Richard Hughes, has resigned after the watchdog accidentally published its key Budget analysis online before Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivered her statement in the Commons, in what he called a “regrettable incident” for which he took “full responsibility.” He said it was “in the best interests of the OBR” for him to step down so that the body could “quickly move on” and rebuild trust.
The resignation follows an investigation into how the OBR’s Economic and Fiscal Outlook was made accessible ahead of time on a hidden webpage, confirming major measures – including a three‑year freeze on income tax and National Insurance thresholds – before Reeves announced them. The report described the premature release as the worst failure in the organisation’s 15‑year history and said it had been “seriously disruptive” to the chancellor, even though the error was judged to be inadvertent.
In his letter to Reeves and Dame Meg Hillier, who chairs the Treasury Select Committee, Hughes said he believed the OBR could “quickly regain and restore the confidence and esteem” it had built up if it implemented the inquiry’s recommendations in full. He added that he needed to “play [his] part” in allowing the organisation he had “loved leading for the past five years” to recover, and so had decided to resign and accept responsibility for the shortcomings identified.
The episode has deepened the political row around this year’s Budget, with Reeves accused by opponents of misleading people about the state of the public finances in the run‑up to her statement. Sir Keir Starmer said he was “proud” of the Budget and rejected claims that the chancellor had misled voters, arguing that the government’s commitment to cutting borrowing meant it “would always have to raise revenue” in some form.
Tensions increased after it emerged that, while Reeves had hinted at the need for tax rises based on gloomy productivity forecasts, the OBR had already told the Treasury that its downgrade to productivity would be offset by stronger income growth and higher tax receipts. Asked whether Reeves had been misleading, Starmer insisted that ministers had been frank about the fiscal constraints they faced, while Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch claimed the chancellor was using Hughes as a “human shield” and questioned why “someone else” was carrying the can for the chaos.
The investigation into the leak, led by former National Cyber Security Centre chief Ciaran Martin, found no evidence of foreign interference, cyber‑criminals or collusion by OBR staff, but exposed serious weaknesses in the watchdog’s publishing set‑up. The analysis was uploaded to a directory that allowed direct downloads, and a plug‑in on the WordPress‑based system unintentionally removed the need to log in to view material scheduled for future publication, meaning safeguards staff thought were in place were in fact being bypassed.
The report noted that the same flaws had allowed early access to the OBR’s March forecasts while Reeves was delivering her Spring Statement, and said “ultimate responsibility” for the circumstances lay with the organisation’s leadership. It recommended a thorough overhaul of the publishing process and a move away from software designed for smaller sites towards platforms suitable for handling market‑sensitive data.
Hughes, who only recently began a second five‑year term after first being appointed in 2020, had been due to appear before the Treasury Select Committee to answer questions on the Budget and the forecasts, but Hillier confirmed he would no longer attend. In response to his resignation, Reeves thanked him for his “public service” and for leading the OBR over the past five years, while a Treasury spokesperson said a minister would respond formally to the report “in due course”.
The story, including the details of the investigation, the political reaction and Hughes’s decision to quit, was first reported by BBC News and has since fuelled wider debate over the power and accountability of Britain’s fiscal watchdog.
