The head of the UK’s Budget watchdog has been forced out of his position after he contradicted the Chancellor’s claims over the state of the country’s finances, The i Paper can reveal.

Richard Hughes, chairman of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), announced on Monday he was stepping down from his position due to a data breach that published the full contents of the watchdog’s economic outlook a full hour before Rachel Reeves stood up to deliver her Budget .

While this was a significant and embarrassing breach The i Paper understands that Hughes’s position was initially thought “survivable”. But relations between the Treasury and OBR had sunk to an all time low after Hughes took the unusual step of publishing a timeline of its economic forecasts last week, casting doubt o

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