OBR calls in cyber expert over botched release of Budget analysis


Details of the Budget are supposed to be kept under wraps until the chancellor announces them in the House of Commons, due to them being market-sensitive.

But early publication of the OBR’s report effectively confirmed a number of new measures, including a pay-per-mile charge on electric vehicles, and a three-year freeze on income tax and National Insurance thresholds.

The OBR quickly removed the forecast document from its website and apologised for the release, which it blamed on a “technical error”.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Thursday, Mr Hughes said the document was not published “on our web page itself”.

In other words, it was not linked to directly by the OBR website.

However, it had still been published online ahead of the Budget being announced.

“It appears there was a link that someone was able to access,” he said. “We need to get to the bottom of what exactly happened.”

Mr Hughes said Professor Ciaran Martin, a former head of the National Cyber Security Centre, would provide “expert input” for the OBR’s investigation.

The BBC was able to access the PDF version of the OBR’s key report at 11:45 on Wednesday by replacing the word ‘March’ with ‘November’ in the web address of a previous edition.

Five minutes earlier, the Reuters news agency had started sending out one-line news flashes summarising contents of the report.

This was followed by a brief spell of volatility in the UK bond and currency markets.

Gilt yields – which give an indication of government borrowing costs – fell sharply, before climbing back to above the level they had been at before the details were leaked.


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *