The chair of the U.K.’s economic watchdog stood down on Monday after the organization mistakenly released its economic and fiscal forecasts ahead of the country’s Autumn Budget last week.
The Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) released its economic and fiscal forecasts on the budget’s measures about 40 minutes before Chancellor Rachel Reeves was due to begin delivering it last Wednesday, sending yields on British government debt see-sawing.
Richard Hughes, who took up the role as chair of OBR in October 2020, tendered his resignation after markets closed on Monday.
In a letter addressed to Reeves and Dame Meg Hillier, a lawmaker who chairs parliament’s Treasury Select Committee, Hughes said that the “inadvertent early dissemination of our Economic and fiscal outlook on 26 November was a technical but serious error.”
The OBR has submitted a report to the Treasury and the Treasury Committee of the House of Commons detailing how and why the early release happened, and “identifies the further actions the Office will take to ensure that it never happens again,” the letter stated.
“It is in the best interest of the OBR for me to resign” so the organization can “quickly move on from this regrettable incident,” Hughes wrote.
“By implementing the recommendations in this report, I am certain the OBR can quickly regain and restore the confidence and esteem that it has earned through 15 years of rigorous, independent, economic analysis,” he added.
Reeves responded by thanking Hughes “for his public service and for leading the Office for Budget Responsibility over 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 fiscal framework and institutions,” she added.
