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The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has enlisted a top cyber-security specialist to help investigate how a document revealing critical details of Wednesday’s Budget was made available online prematurely. This unexpected leak occurred about 40 minutes before Rachel Reeves officially presented her statement, throwing the event into disarray. Although the document was not openly posted on the OBR’s website, journalists, including those at the BBC, managed to access it by guessing a URL closely resembling that of a previous official publication.
Richard Hughes, the chairman of the OBR, expressed his deep regret over the incident, describing himself as “personally mortified.” He assured that a thorough investigation would be conducted and its findings shared with Members of Parliament. Budget information is expected to remain confidential until the chancellor formally announces it in the House of Commons, due to the sensitivity of financial markets. Unfortunately, the early leak of the OBR’s report prematurely revealed several new measures, such as the introduction of a pay-per-mile charge for electric vehicles and a freeze on income tax and National Insurance thresholds for three years.
Responding to the incident, the OBR quickly removed the forecast from its website and issued an apology, attributing the leak to a “technical error.” During an interview on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Hughes clarified that the file was not directly published on the OBR’s webpage but had been accessible through an unlinked web address. He said, “It appears there was a link that someone was able to access. We need to get to the bottom of what exactly happened.” To assist with the inquiry, Professor Ciaran Martin, a former head of the National Cyber Security Centre, has been brought in to provide expert advice.
The leak caused immediate market reactions, with UK government bond yields fluctuating sharply following early Reuters news flashes summarizing the contents. Inside the House of Commons, the disruption was evident as Minister Rachel Reeves was seen consulting her phone with concern during Prime Minister’s Questions. Treasury Minister Torsten Bell passed her a mobile device, while notes circulated among cabinet members. Conservative MPs quickly shared parts of the document across social media. Tory frontbenchers, including shadow chancellor Mel Stride, responded by calling for an inquiry into the leak, with Stride calling it “utterly outrageous” and potentially a criminal act. This incident adds to ongoing concerns about leaks and speculation ahead of Budget announcements, although it is not the first time such sensitive information has emerged prematurely in UK political history
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