Autumn Budget seen almost 25,000 times after being accidentally leaked, new report finds
The blunder led to the resignation of the Office for Budget Responsibility chief, Richard Hughes
The Autumn Budget was accessed almost 25,000 times before its publication after an accidental leak by the OBR, a probe has revealed.
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The document, which revealed the contents of the Budget, was mistakenly published half an hour before Chancellor Rachel Reeves formally announced the measures to the nation on November 26.
The fallout led to the resignation of Office for Budget Responsibility [OBR] chairman Richard Hughes and led to a full investigation.
A new report carried out by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has showed the document downloaded on "at least' 24,701 occasions in the hour before Ms Reeves' speech.
Afterwards, Ms Reeves said she was at the "higher end of the angry scale."
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An initial review suggested it had been accessed just 43 times.
In a statement released at the time, the OBR apologised for the "technical error" and said it would be reporting the findings of its investigation to the Treasury to "make sure this does not happen again."
The NCSC's probe revealed that the first full download of the OBR’s forecasts occurred just after 11.35am on the morning, which came after more than 500 unsuccessful attempts.
The file was then downloaded tens of thousands of times as links to the report spread rapidly online.
The report said there had been 20,547 successful downloads within half an hour, from more than 10,000 "unique IP addresses."
Announcing his resignation less than a week later, Mr Hughes wrote: "The inadvertent early dissemination of our Economic and fiscal outlook on 26 November was a technical but serious error."
He added he was "certain" that the OBR could "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."
Following the resignation, Ms Reeves said: "I want to thank Richard 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."