Too many unauthorised pre-budget leaks, says Reeves

Chancellor Rachel Reeves said ahead of her Budget last month there were too many unauthorized leaks.

There were numerous media reports about what might have been in his statement, leading to criticism from the Speaker of the House, Sir Lindsay Hoyle; Hoyle described it as a “hockey-coke budget” and told MPs “one minute it’s in, the next minute it’s over”.

In particular, the source of leaks to the Financial Times on 13 November, which suggested that the Chancellor had abandoned plans to increase income tax, is now being investigated.

Giving evidence to the Treasury select committee, Reeves told MPs he had taken the step because the leaks were “so damaging” and “we cannot let this happen again”.

Shortly before he was to deliver his Budget speech on 26 November, its contents were mistakenly published by the government’s tax and spending watchdog, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).

But in the weeks before the Budget was prepared, a number of Budget measures were reported to journalists, including a pay-per-kilometre tax on electric vehicles and a tourism tax.

The Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR) downgrade of productivity in the UK and its plan to raise income tax rates, which later appeared to be abandoned, were also reported in the media.

Reeves said: “There was a lot of speculation in the budget, there was a lot of leakage, and a lot of that leakage and speculation was inaccurate, very damaging…

“I want to put on record how disappointed and angry I am by these events and the volume of speculation and leaks.”

Reeves said Treasury processes were currently being reviewed and he had also commissioned the National Cyber ​​Security Center to carry out a forensic review of IT systems following the OBR’s blunder allowing early access to the full budget report.

OBR chairman Richard Hughes resigned after the watchdog’s assessment of the Chancellor’s plans was mistakenly published online before he made his speech.

In the weeks before the budget, the Chancellor fueled speculation he was preparing to raise income tax with a speech aimed at laying the groundwork for his autumn statement by warning of the difficult decisions ahead.

He suggested sticking to Labor’s pre-election promises, which included a pledge not to raise income tax, would only be possible with “deep cuts” in public investment.

A subsequent leak to the Financial Times (FT) revealed that the proposal to raise income tax rates for the first time in 50 years had been withdrawn.

Asked about attribution of the FT report to “officials briefed on the move,” Reeves responded firmly: “This was not an off-the-record briefing, it was a leak.

“I am absolutely of the opinion that this was not an authorized briefing; it was incredibly damaging and frustrating and that is why we conducted a leak investigation,” he said.

“It was not a briefing signed by me or any of my ministers or officials; it was unacceptable.”

Reeves said he was particularly affected by the FT leak because it presented “partial and inaccurate information and an inaccurate picture of the budget strategy” and suggested that “I had abandoned key elements of the budget strategy”.

Treasury Under-Secretary James Bowler said the Cabinet Office was leading the current leak investigation and would engage ministers as well as officials and advisers in both the Treasury and “wider departments”.

Asked about an earlier OBR issue in February in which Bloomberg obtained confidential data showing low economic growth forecasts, Mr Bowler said an internal investigation in March found “it’s not clear whether this is a leak or speculation”.

But he rejected claims that leak investigations were “leading nowhere”, saying: “Even last year civil servants across the government were found to have accidentally or deliberately leaked information, leading to prosecutions, including impeachment.”

Mr Bowler said he expected to receive advice “about how many people know something and to what extent it is more than we intended”.