Head of Budget leak watchdog refuses to give up over ‘technical error’ blunder

The chair of the Office for Budget Responsibility was forced to apologise over a calamitous leak of vital Budget documents

The head of the Office for Budget Responsibility’s future hangs in the balance in the wake of the Budget leak scandal.

Chair Richard Hughes dodged questions over whether he should resign for the worst Budget breach since 1996. But he committed to abide the wishes of the Treasury and a committee of MPs.

Mr Hughes blamed a “technical error” for a “mistake” within the OBR had seen its vital assessment of the government’s tax and spending plans uploaded to its website too early.

He told a press conference: “The document was unintentionally uploaded to our website too early. We have initiated an investigation into how and why it has happened.

“That investigation will report to our oversight board, the Treasury and the Treasury Committee and I will abide by their recommendations.”

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He went on: “We take it very seriously. We understand how it happened and we want to get to the fundamental causes to make sure it doesn’t happen again. It was a mistake in the OBR”.

The breach is believed to be the most serious since November 1996 when a substantial part of the Budget was leaked to the Daily Mirror. The paper obtained 36 documents, mainly press releases which were to be distributed after the Chancellor had finished speaking.

Mr Hughes began his initial five-year term as chair of OBR in October 2020. The Commons Treasury Committee extended his appointment in July this year. Educated at Harvard University and the University of Oxford, he began his career at the Treasury in 2000.