Rachel Reeves could seal the fate of the OBR’s chief today amid Treasury fury at being exposed by its watchdog.
The Chancellor is expected to receive a report on the dramatic Budget leak that saw key documents made public nearly two hours early.
But tensions have also been raging over the OBR revealing explosive details of when it told Ms Reeves there was no hole in the public finances.
That has fuelled widespread fury that she lied by talking up problems in the run-up, to soften up Britons for huge tax hikes.
Last week, OBR head Richard Hughes said he had been ‘mortified’ by the extraordinary leak.
He said he would resign if he lost the confidence of the Chancellor and the Commons Treasury Committee.
The Chancellor has offered only lukewarm support for Richard Hughes amid Treasury anger at the Budget leak and revelations about when she was told there was no hole in the public finances
Former national cyber security boss Ciaran Martin has been drafted in to advise on the process, although it is thought to have been human error rather than hacking.
Ms Reeves was left wriggling in interviews yesterday as she was confronted with details of how she talked up the problems in the government’s books, even after the OBR had advised her they were in fact forecasting a small surplus.
The timetable was spelled out in a letter from the independent body to MPs, published on Friday.
That drew a rare public rebuke from the Treasury, which said it had been assured such information would not ‘usually’ be made public in future.
Asked about the fate of the OBR chief yesterday, Ms Reeves said: ‘Look, there is no one who is a bigger supporter of the office for Budget Responsibility than me.
‘I reappointed Richard Hughes in the summer to strengthen the powers of the OBR…
‘It was clearly serious. It was clearly a serious breach of protocol.’
After the OBR letter was published on Friday, a Treasury spokesman said: ‘We are not going to get into the OBR’s processes or speculate on how that relates to the internal decision making in the build up to a Budget but the Chancellor made her choices to cut the cost of living, cut hospital waiting lists and double headroom to cut the cost of our debt.
‘We take Budget security extremely seriously and believe it’s important to preserve a private space for Treasury–OBR policy and forecast discussions, so we welcome the OBR’s confirmation that this will not become usual practice.’
Ms Reeves was left wriggling in interviews yesterday as she was confronted with details of how she talked up the problems in the government’s books, even after the OBR had advised her they were in fact forecasting a small surplus
