• The head of the UK's fiscal watchdog, Richard Hughes, has resigned.
• This decision follows the premature release of finance minister Rachel Reeves' budget details.
• An investigation attributed the leak to IT weaknesses and leadership failures within the agency.
• The early disclosure led to significant backlash and mockery among lawmakers.
• Hughes aims to help the Office for Budget Responsibility recover from this failure.

The head of Britain's fiscal watchdog, Richard Hughes, submitted his resignation on December 1 after the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) inadvertently published key details of finance minister Rachel Reeves' annual budget ahead of schedule. Hughes stated that he wanted to assist the OBR in recovering swiftly from this incident, which was tied to IT weaknesses and leadership failures in a report he referenced in his resignation letter to Reeves, asserting, "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," according to Reuters, Channel News Asia, and South China Morning Post.

Hughes had started his first five-year term as chair in 2020, and Reeves had supported his reappointment for a second term earlier this year. His resignation follows a period marked by strained relations with Reeves. The OBR disclosed that the early release of its assessment was due to long-standing IT failings that had gone unnoticed by its leadership. The investigation revealed that the issues were likely established well before the recent budget announcement, according to Reuters, Channel News Asia, and South China Morning Post.

The Economic and Fiscal Outlook (EFO) report was made publicly available just under an hour before Reeves delivered her budget address in Parliament, outlining significant announcements on taxes and policy changes. This premature disclosure sparked criticism and mockery among some lawmakers, impacting the reputation of the OBR. As stated by two non-executive directors of the agency, "We are in no doubt that this failure to protect information prior to publication has inflicted heavy damage on the OBR's reputation," and it has been described as "the worst failure in the 15-year history of the OBR," according to Reuters, Channel News Asia, and South China Morning Post.