Government accused of “selected leaking” of key budget announcements

The UK government has been told there was “no excuse” for the leaking of parts of the Budget by the chairman of the influential Commons Treasury Select Committee.

The Treasury has denied that ministers or officials were responsible for the publication of policy details ahead of George Osborne’s speech in March, which included the controversial decision to cut the top rate of income tax to 45p.

It blamed the nature of coalition government and the involvement of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) for people knowing the details in advance.

But Andrew Tyrie, Tory chairman of the cross-party committee, said the coalition was “no excuse” for selective leaking of policies.

“Budget measures should not be leaked or pre-briefed to the media,” he added. “Whilst appropriate pre-Budget consultation is to be welcomed, information about such measures should be publicly released and, when appropriate, accompanied by a written or oral parliamentary statement.

“Coalition government is no excuse for selective leaking.”