OBR Investigates Budget Leak Which It Calls Its Worst Failure in 15 Years
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has described the inadvertent online release of its November 2025 Economic and Fiscal Outlook (EFO) just under an hour before Chancellor Rachel Reeves's budget speech as the worst failure in its 15-year history.
An investigation led by OBR chief of staff Laura Gardiner and former National Cyber Security Centre head Ciaran Martin concluded that leadership failures over many years and a pre-existing procedural weakness contributed to the leak.
The report stated that the leak occurred from a pre-publication facility used under pressure by a small team to publish the full EFO and related documents immediately after the Chancellor sat down.
The OBR also acknowledged a separate earlier breach in March, when the EFO was uploaded early and accessed five minutes into Reeves's budget speech.
The organisation said that responsibility for IT security should be shared between the Treasury and the Cabinet Office, as the current setup allowed unregulated access.
The inquiry noted that the security of the EFO's production process had not received the same focus as securing communications with the Treasury during the budget preparation period.
OBR chair Richard Hughes issued an apology to Chancellor Reeves and to Meg Hillier, chair of the Treasury select committee, and stated he would resign if Reeves or the committee lost confidence in the organisation.
The OBR, created in 2010 by then-chancellor George Osborne, is tasked with providing independent forecasts on the economy, including growth and public finances over five years.
Chancellor Reeves denied allegations of lying to the public and emphasized that tax rises were necessary to maintain economic stability.
