Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) chief Richard Hughes has resigned after a damning new report said the unprecedented leak of last week’s Budget was the worst failure in the watchdog’s 15-year history, as it revealed that the error had happened before, during the chancellor’s spring statement.
The investigation concluded that the OBR’s leadership must take “immediate steps to change completely” how it publishes reports containing sensitive forecasts, after official analysis documents were uploaded to the watchdog’s website, releasing details of the Budget almost an hour early.
