An “external person” may have been able to access the link to the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR)’s fiscal outlook which was published prematurely before the Budget, the head of the watchdog has said.

The document revealed the contents of Rachel Reeves ’ Budget and was accidentally published shortly before midday on Wednesday, half an hour before the Chancellor announced the measures.

In an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Thursday morning, OBR chairman Richard Hughes said of the investigation into the incident: “Well, the documents weren’t published on our webpage itself.

“It appears there was a link that someone was able to access – an external person.

“We need to get to the bottom of what exactly happened. We’re going to do a full investigation.

“There’ll

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