Britain’s Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) on Wednesday unexpectedly published the November 2025 Economic and Fiscal Outlook on its website ahead of the formal announcement of the budget by the Labour Party chancellor of exchequer Rachel Reeves.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch criticised the UK Labour government for the “shambles” surrounding the leaking by the OBR.
The OBR, the UK’s fiscal financial watchdog, published its forecasts online containing budget details, an hour before Labour’s chancellor of the exchequer Rachel Reeves was due to deliver the budget in the House of Commons.
Ms Badenoch raised the issue this afternoon in the House of Commons at prime ministers questions, in advance of Ms Reeves speech.
The document, which is usually published after the finance minister’s speech, was uploaded to the OBR website and available to download on an unprotected link. The link was not advertised on the website.
The document contains the OBR’s fiscal forecasts and their assessment of the impact of Reeves’ tax and spending measures.
The pound briefly jumped to session highs, while UK government bond prices staged a short, sharp rise following the release of the details.
The OBR did not immediately respond to a request for comment. -additional reporting Reuters
(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2025
