Head of UK budget watchdog Richard Hughes quits after early release of Reeves' budget

The head of Britain’s fiscal watchdog resigned on Monday after his agency accidentally published key details of Finance Minister Rachel Reeves’ annual tax-and-spending budget ahead of schedule.

Richard Hughes said he was stepping down to help the Office for Budget Responsibility recover from the incident, which an internal investigation blamed on IT weaknesses and leadership failures.

“I have, therefore, decided it is in the best interest of the OBR for me to resign as its chair and take full responsibility to the shortcomings identified in the report,” Reuters quoted Hughes as saying in a letter to Reeves.

Hughes began his first five-year term as chair of the independent watchdog in 2020, and Reeves endorsed him for a second term in May. His resignation comes after a period of strained ties between the Treasury and the OBR.

Earlier on Monday, the agency said its premature release of the assessment of Reeves’ budget last Wednesday stemmed from longstanding IT vulnerabilities that had gone undetected by its leadership.

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An investigation — first reported by Reuters — found the technical flaw likely pre-dated the budget process, prompting the OBR to pledge system upgrades to prevent a repeat.

The Economic and Fiscal Outlook (EFO) report was mistakenly made available on the OBR’s website less than an hour before Reeves began delivering her budget in Parliament at 12:34 GMT, revealing key decisions on taxes, growth and individual policy measures — a leak that sparked mockery and frustration among several lawmakers.

“We are in no doubt that this failure to protect information prior to publication has inflicted heavy damage on the OBR’s reputation,” two non-executive directors of the OBR said in a foreword to Monday’s publication of the investigation’s results.

“It is the worst failure in the 15-year history of the OBR,” they said.

With inputs from agencies