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The report said the leak was ‘the worst failure in the 15-year history of the OBR’
Nicole Wootton-Cane,David Maddox,Bryony GoochMonday 01 December 2025 16:43 GMTComments
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The chairman of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has resigned to allow the watchdog to “quickly move on” from the leak of the Budget, he has said.
Richard Hughes’ resignation follows a damning report following an investigation into the leak of its latest documents before Wednesday’s autumn Budget which showed previous forecasts were “accessed prematurely”.
Details of Wednesday’s Budget were mistakenly released to the public almost an hour early when official forecasts from the OBR were uploaded to the watchdog’s website.
It found logs indicated the March forecast’s IP address was accessed five minutes after the Chancellor started speaking to Parliament and nearly half-an-hour before it should have been published, although there was no evidence of any activity being undertaken as a result of that access.
The OBR concluded that leadership must take “immediate steps to change completely” how it publishes twice-yearly reports containing sensitive forecasts after it mistakenly released an analysis of the Budget early. The incident was decried as “the worst failure in the 15-year history of the OBR.”
Chancellor Rachel Reeves had maintained her support for Mr Hughes and the OBR in spite of the leak.
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Richard Hughes resignation - the full statement
Here is the full resignation letter written by OBR chairman Richard Hughes as he steps down following a major leak last week.
Dear Chancellor and Dame Meg,
I am writing to you following the publication of the report of the investigation into the November 2025 Economic and fiscal outlook publication error. 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. The inadvertent early dissemination of our Economic and fiscal outlook on 26 November was a technical but serious error.
The report the OBR has submitted to the Treasury and the Treasury Committee of the House of Commons sets out how and why it happened and identifies the further actions the Office will take to ensure that it never happens again. I am grateful to Baroness Sarah Hogg and Dame Susan Rice for overseeing the report, to Professor Ciaran Martin for providing expert input, and to the joint OBR-Treasury team that produced it so expeditiously.
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.
But I also need to play my part in enabling the organisation that I have loved leading for the past five years to quickly move on from this regrettable incident. 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.
I would like to thank my predecessor Robert Chote, my fellow Budget Responsibility Committee Members past and present David Miles, Tom Josephs, Charlie Bean, and Andy King, Chief of Staff Laura Gardiner, and all of the staff of the OBR for being such wonderful colleagues these past five years. I will follow the OBR’s forward progress with great interest and much pride.
Bryony Gooch1 December 2025 16:43Breaking: OBR chairman resigns
Office for Budget Responsibility chairman Richard Hughes has resigned to allow the watchdog to “quickly move on” from the leak of the Budget before Rachel Reeves’ speech, he has said.
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Jonathan Gullis insists ‘not a cat’s chance in hell’ of defecting to Reform in 2024 clipBryony Gooch1 December 2025 16:21Government backs 'deeper forensic investigation' into previous OBR disclosures
Treasury minister James Murray told the Commons the Government backs a “deeper forensic investigation” into previous Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) disclosures.
“I can confirm the Treasury will be making contact with previous chancellors to make them aware of the developments that relate to previous fiscal events,” Mr Murray said.
He later added: “The Government will be working in conjunction with a National Cyber Security Centre to take forward the recommendation that a forensic examination of other fiscal events is carried out, although let me specifically note for the House that the report finds no evidence of hostile cyber activity.
“In addition, the report says that they could not in the time available carry out a deeper forensic examination of other recent Economic and Fiscal Outlook events, and we recommend that such an exercise is, with expert support, urgently carried out.
“We will make sure that work is carried out urgently.”
Bryony Gooch1 December 2025 16:10Treasury minister 'concerned' to learn OBR error may have seen early release of previous forecasts
James Murray told MPs he was “very concerned” to learn that the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) error may have seen the early release of previous forecasts.
Quoting from the watchdog’s investigation, Mr Murray told the Commons: “‘It is very likely that the weaknesses that caused the premature access of the November 2025 Economic and Fiscal Outlook (EFO) were pre-existing.
“‘Indeed, it appears that the March 2025 EFO was accessed prematurely.'”
Turning to the leak’s impact on the markets, Treasury minister Mr Murray later added: “That market sensitive information have been prematurely accessible to a small group of market participants is extremely concerning.
(Aaron Chown/PA Wire)“That it might have been the case on more than one occasion is even more severe. We do not know at this stage the extent to which market behaviour may have been affected on this or other occasions as a result of information being available early.
“But I do want to share one further bit of information from the report with the House today – on the morning of the Budget, the first IP address to successfully access the EFO had made 32 prior attempts that day, starting at around 5am.
“Such a volume of requests implies that the person attempting to access the document had every confidence that persistence would lead to success at some point, and this unfortunately leads us to consider whether the reason they tried so persistently to access the EFO is because they have been successful at a previous fiscal event.”
Bryony Gooch1 December 2025 16:06OBR leak a 'fundamental breach' of watchdog's responsibility
The early release of the Office for Budget Responsibility’s Economic and Fiscal Outlook (EFO) was a “fundamental breach” of the watchdog’s responsibility, a Treasury minister has said.
James Murray told the Commons: “Last Wednesday, before the Chancellor (Rachel Reeves) had begun to give her Budget speech, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) published their entire EFO online.
“Let me be clear, this is a very serious breach of highly sensitive information.
“It is a fundamental breach of the OBR’s responsibility. It is a discourtesy to this House, and it should never have happened.”
(James Manning/PA Wire)Bryony Gooch1 December 2025 16:00Government will work closely with NCSC
Chief secretary to the treasury James Murray has said the government will work in conjunction with the National Cyber Security Center to take forward the recommendations laid out following a breach of the OBR.
“We will make sure that work is carried out urgently.
“We will look at wider questions of the systemic risk that this incident has uncovered, including the report's conclusion that the OBR information security arrangements should have been regularly re- examined and assured by the management of the OBR.
“This government is committed to the independence of the OBR and its role at the heart of economic and fiscal policy.”
Bryony Gooch1 December 2025 15:53Government 'taking OBR breach seriously'
Chief secretary to the treasury James Murray has said the government is taking the cyber breach that led Budget details to be leaked last week very seriously.
“As a government, we take this seriously to make sure the OBR never allows this to happen again.
“The report notes that common and fairly basic protections prevent early access, including passwords and random and URLs when not used.”
Bryony Gooch1 December 2025 15:50Chief secretary to treasury stands by Ms Reeves
Chief secretary to the treasury James Murray has stood by chancellor Rachel Reeves in his ministerial statement about the forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility.
He said Ms Reeves was “clear on her priorities at the budget, which was to cut NHS waiting lists, to cut the cost of living and to cut our debt and borrowing the budget that she delivered last week delivered on those priorities”.
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