FCA Decides Not to Investigate Rachel Reeves or Treasury Over Pre-Budget Briefings
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has announced it will not commence an enforcement investigation into Rachel Reeves or the Treasury regarding pre-budget briefings at this time. This decision was communicated in a letter from FCA chief executive Nikhil Rathi to Treasury committee chair Meg Hillier.
However, the FCA has left open the possibility of follow-up action, stating that it may examine the findings of the Treasury's ongoing budget-leak inquiry and any market-sensitive information uncovered. The FCA has requested details of the Treasury inquiry and indicated that the inquiry's outcome should be shared so the FCA can consider it as appropriate.
The Treasury itself has launched its own inquiry into the budget leaks with the full support of Rachel Reeves and the entire Treasury team. Permanent secretary James Bowler will review security processes to safeguard future events. Treasury minister James Murray emphasized that the inquiry has Reeves’s and the whole team's full backing.
Context for this investigation includes pre-budget reporting such as a Financial Times disclosure about Reeves dropping a plan to raise income tax rates and the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) stating it had not updated forecasts for two weeks prior to the budget announcement. OBR chair Richard Hughes resigned after the OBR mistakenly published a key document ahead of the chancellor's speech. The FCA confirmed it would cooperate with the OBR's report, while the OBR would similarly cooperate with the FCA's oversight.
