The chairman of the United Kingdom’s economic watchdog resigned Monday after the organization mistakenly published its economic and fiscal forecasts ahead of the country’s autumn budget last week.
The Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) published its economic and fiscal forecasts on the budget measures around 40 minutes before Chancellor Rachel Reeves began presenting them last Wednesday, sending yields on UK government debt tumbling.
Richard Hughes, who took over as OBR chairman in October 2020, tendered his resignation after markets closed on Monday.
In a letter to Reeves and Dame Meg Hillier, an MP who chairs Parliament’s Treasury Select Committee, Hughes said the “inadvertent early release of our economic and fiscal outlook on November 26 was a technical but serious error”.
The OBR has submitted a report to the Treasury and the Commons Treasury Committee detailing how and why the early release took place, and “identifies further steps the Office will take to ensure this does not happen again”, the letter said.
“It is in the best interest of the OBR that I resign” so that the organization can “quickly turn the page on this unfortunate incident,” Hughes wrote.
“By implementing the recommendations of this report, I am confident that the OBR can quickly regain and restore the trust and esteem it has earned through 15 years of rigorous and independent economic analysis,” he added.
Reeves responded by thanking Hughes “for his public service and for leading the Office of Budget Responsibility for the past five years and for his many years of public service.”
“This government is committed to protecting the independence of the OBR and the integrity of our financial framework and institutions,” she added.
