The head of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), UK’s fiscal regulator, Richard Hughes, resigned on Monday, December 1, after a key budget document was leaked before Chancellor Rachel Reeves officially announced it in Parliament.
The early publication, containing fiscal and economic forecasts, along with new budget measures such as the National Insurance threshold and the three-year freeze on income tax, was released half an hour before Reeves was to address the MPs.
The mishap, described as “unprecedented”, “deeply disappointing” and a “serious error”, sent shockwaves across the country by throwing the financial markets into chaos and causing political turmoil.
In a letter addressed to Reeves and Dame Meg Hillier, Chair of the Treasury Select Committee at the House of Commons, Hughes took “full responsibility” for the error and resigned as “it is in the best interest of the OBR” so that the organisation can “quickly move on from this regrettable incident”.
“The OBR plays a vital role in the UK’s fiscal policymaking, and it is critical that the Government, Parliament, and the public continue to have confidence in the work that it does,” he said in the letter.
In response to the resignation, the Chancellor thanked Hughes for “leading the Office for Budget Responsibility over the past five years and for his many years of public service.”
READ MORE: UK Budget unveiled: Rachel Reeves evades austerity measures by bringing taxes to record levels
OBR launches investigation into the leak
Following the early release of Reeves’ budget, the OBR launched a formal investigation to establish the reasons behind the publishing error.
Headed by Laura Gardiner, OBR’s Chief of Staff, and Prof. Ciaran Martin, former head of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), the internal inquiry report confirmed that “this was not a case of intentional leakage” and described it as “the worst failure in the 15-year history” of the organisation.
“The ultimate responsibility for the circumstances in which this vulnerability occurred and was then exposed rests, over the years, with the leadership of the OBR,” the report said.
According to the internal audit, the weaknesses of the organisation’s procedures “appear to have been pre-existing” as it was revealed that a previous report “was accessed prematurely on one occasion” in March 2025, minutes after Reeves began her speech.
The investigation concluded that immediate steps must be taken to “completely change the publication arrangements” for its biannual forecasts to prevent future leaks.
“By implementing the recommendations in this report, I am certain the OBR can quickly regain and restore the confidence and esteem that it has earned through 15 years of rigorous, independent, economic analysis,” said Hughes in his resignation letter.
Opposition attacks government
The results of the OBR’s internal audit and the ultimate resignation of its chair opened another front on the political battlefield, with the opposition taking advantage of what had transpired to launch an attack on the Government.
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch branded Hughes’ departure as “retribution” and claimed Reeves tried to make him “her human shield”, turning “this into a full-blown political crisis”.
“The truth is this is happening because the OBR has released statements criticising the Chancellor, telling people that she misled the public, that they had given her different forecasts, and she went out there telling people that there was a black hole which did not exist,“ Badenoch argued.
“If [Prime Minister] Keir Starmer had a backbone, he would have sacked Reeves long ago,” said the Tory leader in a post on X.
Reform leader, Nigel Farage, claimed that OBR “have not wilfully attempted to mislead the British public” and shared Badenoch’s view that the Chancellor should have been the one to resign.
Government sources rejected the opposition’s attempt to link the budget leak with Reeves’ decisions, claiming their arguments were “laughable” and “totally unserious”.
Earlier on Monday, Starmer defended the Chancellor, saying: “There was no misleading, and I simply don’t accept [it].”
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