OBR appoints former NCSC head Ciaran Martin to investigate UK budget leak

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has hired a cybersecurity expert as part of its investigation into the UK’s budget leak, suggesting that “external interference” may have been involved.

Apologizing for the leak, Richard Hughes, the Chair of OBR, has said that a full investigation has been launched. It will include expert input from Professor Ciaran Martin, the former head of the National Cyber Security Centre, which is the UK’s cybercrime unit.

What happened?

The OBR leaked details of the Autumn budget 40 minutes before the chancellor announced it to parliament. It said that this was due to a “technical error.”

Information about the budget is market-sensitive and intended to be confidential until the Chancellor makes an announcement in the House of Commons. The leak meant that details were released in full before Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivered her policies, instead of being published afterwards, as intended.

Speaking to the BBC’s Today programme this morning, Hughes said that he had written to the Chancellor and the Chair of the Select Committee to apologize for the leak, and stated that there will be a full investigation into why it occurred.

“I regret the deep disruption that it caused. We’ve initiated an investigation into what happened. It will be overseen by the chair of our oversight board with expert input from Professor Ciaran Martin, former head of the NCSC.”

“It will report to the treasury and the Treasury committee of parliament and identify the actions we take to ensure that it doesn’t happen again.”

Oxford University Professor Martin has held senior positions at HM Treasury and the Cabinet Office, as well as six and a half years on the board of the NCSC. He currently holds several advisory roles in private sector cyber security.

Was there an external leak?

Although the incident is still under investigation, the appointment of a cybersecurity expert suggests that the OBR suspects external interference.

Hughes has stated that there was a link to the budget documents, but they weren’t published on the OBR’s web page itself.

“It appears there was a link that someone was able to access this. An external person. We need to get to the bottom of exactly what happened.

“We are going to do a full investigation and a full report to parliament. We are going to do that work quickly so that assurance in our systems is restored.”

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​​The leaked documents confirmed politically sensitive "stealth taxes" and downscaled growth forecasts that are unpopular with the public and businesses.

The Office for Budget Responsibility is a non-departmental public body created in 2010 to provide independent and authoritative analysis of the UK's public finances.

The last time significant contents of the budget were leaked was to The Daily Mirror in 1996.

Back then, the paper's editor, Piers Morgan, chose not to publish the full contents and returned most of the documents to the Treasury.

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