Budget leak thriller deepens as ‘exterior individual’ now blamed for OBR launch
The head of the Office for Budget Responsibility has given more clues about how an extraordinary release of the Budget contents in advance may have happened
A top cyber official will investigate the Budget leak as it emerged an “external person” may be to blame.
The normally highly respected Office for Budget Responsibility is under fire after the entire contents of Rachel Reeves’ annual tax and spending plans were released online in advance on Wednesday.
Richard Hughes, chair of the OBR, said he was “mortified” by the breach and has apologised to the Chancellor. In an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme he revealed: “The documents weren’t published on our webpage itself. It appears there was a link that someone was able to access – an external person. We need to get to the bottom of what exactly happened. We’re going to do a full investigation.”
Mr Hughes said the probe would include expert insight from Professor Ciaran Martin, the former head of the National Cyber Security Centre.
At an event with the Resolution Foundation think tank, Mr Hughes confirmed he would quit if the Chancellor and the Commons committee lost confidence in him over the incident. He said: “We take Budget security incredibly seriously, which is why this investigation is already under way and will report very swiftly by early next week.
“Personally, I serve day-to-day subject to the confidence of the Chancellor and the Treasury Committee. If they both conclude, in light of that investigation, they no longer have confidence in me then, of course, I will resign, which is what you do when you’re the chair of something called the Office for Budget Responsibility.”
The OBR previously said a “technical error” within the organisation was to blame for the early release and apologised.
Rachel Reeves said on Thursday that she retains confidence in Mr Hughes despite the leak, which she said “must never happen again”. The Chancellor told Sky News: “Richard Hughes wrote to me yesterday evening, apologising for their error. It was a serious error, a serious breach. They have announced an investigation which will report to me very quickly.
“But I do have confidence in Richard and the OBR. They do important work. But what happened yesterday, it did let me down, and it shouldn’t have happened, and it must never happen again.”
Ms Reeves previously said she had found out about the early release while she was in the House of Commons preparing to deliver the Budget.
