It was a budget quite like no other. Not only did it introduce record tax increases, but the market-sensitive document was accidentally published a full 40 minutes before Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves was set to unveil it in the House of Commons.
Pundits were quick to pounce, given the amount of leaks and briefings in the weeks before, with some calling it a ‘multi-shambles’. The UK's Office for Budget Responsibility, which publishes its verdict on the budget once the chancellor sits down, took the blame. While the department pleaded a “technical fault”, the act was another breach of the principle of closely guarded secret that has surrounded every budget since Victorian times.
Even before she got to her feet, the chancellor received a dressing-down from Deputy Speaker Nusrat Ghani condemning the “unprecedented” early disclosures that fell “short of s
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