LONDON, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- Richard Hughes, chair of Britain's Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), resigned on Monday after the fiscal watchdog mistakenly published its Budget-related economic and fiscal forecast before Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivered her Budget.
The OBR is Britain's independent fiscal watchdog, established in 2010 to provide official economic and public finance forecasts and to assess whether the government is on track to meet its fiscal rules. Its Economic and Fiscal Outlook (EFO) is the central document accompanying each Budget, setting out baseline economic projections and the estimated impact of Budget measures.
On Nov. 26, the OBR inadvertently uploaded the EFO to its website roughly 40 minutes before Reeves began her Budget speech in Parliament, making detailed official projections available earlier than intended. The early release prompted political and media scrutiny and led to an urgent internal inquiry.
In a resignation letter to Reeves and Treasury Select Committee chair Dame Meg Hillier, Hughes called the premature publication a "technical but serious error" and said he must "take full responsibility for the shortcomings identified in the report."
Hughes said the OBR had submitted a detailed account to the Treasury and Parliament explaining how the mistake occurred and outlining measures to ensure it is not repeated. The investigation was overseen by the independent members of the OBR's oversight board and supported by Ciaran Martin, former chief executive of the British National Cyber Security Centre.
By implementing the inquiry's recommendations, Hughes wrote, the OBR could "quickly regain and restore the confidence and esteem that it has earned through 15 years of rigorous, independent, economic analysis." He added that stepping down was necessary to help the organisation "move on from this regrettable incident." ■