The head of the government’s budget watchdog has stepped down after details of Rachel Reeves’ announcements were mistakenly published before they were made.
Richard Hughes, chairman of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), said he was resigning to allow the organisation to ‘quickly move on’.
He had come under immense pressure after their forecast – which sets out the potential impacts of measures announced in the Budget – went up online 40 minutes before Reeves got to her feet.
The unprecedented leak caused chaos in the House of Commons, with MPs complaining that major government decisions were made public before they had an opportunity to scrutinise them.
Speaking in the Commons this afternoon, Chief Secretary to the Treasury James Murray said: ‘I understand events are moving quickly, and I understand from messages passed to me, there has been an event, the chair of the OBR has resigned.’
He had previously refused to say whether anyone at the OBR, which was set up by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government in 2010, should step down over the leak.
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