Richard Hughes has resigned as chair of the Office for Budget Responsibility after the financial watchdog accidentally leaked Rachel Reeves’s Budget 45 minutes before the Chancellor unveiled her fiscal measures in the House of Commons.
Mr Hughes, who this morning refused to rule out quitting from his post, tendered his resignation in a 330-word letter to Ms Reeves and Treasury Select Committee chairwoman Dame Meg Hillier.
After updating the Chancellor and Labour MP about the OBR’s urgent inquiry into last week’s Budget leak, the top mandarin said: “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.
“But I also need to play my part in enabling the organisation that I have loved leading for the past five years to quickly move on from this regrettable incident.
“I have, therefore, decided it is in the best interest of the OBR for me to resign as its chair and take full responsibility to the shortcomings identified in the report.”
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