When a major budget leak embarrassed the government this week, Prime Minister Keir Starmer pointed fingers directly at Treasury officials rather than taking responsibility himself. The leak happened when important budget details accidentally became available online before they were supposed to be released to the public.
The Office for Budget Responsibility, which helps create financial forecasts for the government, made a big mistake with their website. Due to WordPress configuration errors, people could access secret budget documents just by guessing the right website addresses. It was like leaving your diary unprotected where anyone could find it by trying different combinations.
Richard Hughes, who led the Office for Budget Responsibility, decided to resign after this embarrassing incident. He said the organization needed to “move on from this regrettable incident.” The government insisted that no hackers or foreign enemies caused the leak – it was simply a technical mistake by their own people.
Richard Hughes resigned from the Office for Budget Responsibility, calling the WordPress security breach a regrettable technical mistake by government officials.
The leaked documents contained detailed information about government spending plans and tax changes that were meant to stay secret until the Chancellor made an official announcement. This created problems because financial markets can react strongly when they get unexpected information about government policies. Financial markets often use stock market indices to track how different sectors respond to unexpected government announcements and policy changes.
Opposition parties jumped on this opportunity to criticize the government. Conservative and SNP politicians asked financial regulators to investigate whether Chancellor Rachel Reeves had misled the public about budget plans. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage called for an official investigation into Reeves’ conduct. The OBR’s forecast revealed a £16 billion decrease in tax revenue due to downgraded productivity expectations.
Meanwhile, Starmer defended his Treasury chief against these accusations. He also expressed anger about other leaks that had happened weeks before the budget. Various policy proposals, including ideas about electric vehicle taxes and tourist fees, had been revealed early through unauthorized briefings to newspapers.
The Financial Times had published leaked information about tax changes thirteen days before the official budget announcement. Starmer called these leaks “completely unacceptable” and promised to find the sources within government ranks. He emphasized that briefing against cabinet members is completely unacceptable behavior within his administration.
As criticism mounted, cyber security experts began examining Treasury computer systems to understand exactly what went wrong and prevent future incidents.
