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Evening Standard sorry over Budget leak | Evening Standard sorry over Budget leak |
(about 1 hour later) | |
The Evening Standard has apologised after it published details of the Budget online before George Osborne delivered his statement. | The Evening Standard has apologised after it published details of the Budget online before George Osborne delivered his statement. |
The newspaper's front page outlined announcements such as the cancellation of a fuel duty rise and a rise in the personal tax allowance to £10,000. | The newspaper's front page outlined announcements such as the cancellation of a fuel duty rise and a rise in the personal tax allowance to £10,000. |
Budget decisions are supposed to be secret before the chancellor speaks. | Budget decisions are supposed to be secret before the chancellor speaks. |
The newspaper apologised for what it called a "very serious mistake" and removed the online image. | The newspaper apologised for what it called a "very serious mistake" and removed the online image. |
Evening Standard editor Sarah Sands said she was "devastated" by the error, which saw the newspaper's front page published on Twitter before Mr Osborne started speaking. | |
'Deep apologies' | |
She told the BBC: "It is an arrangement we have had through successive governments and has always worked. We publish after the Budget. | |
"This was not online and we had not imagined that it would be tweeted by a very young and inexperienced journalist. I am writing to the Speaker and chancellor now with deep apologies." | |
She said an investigation was under way and the individual who tweeted the page had been suspended while this takes place. | |
Labour leader Ed Miliband, who was reading a photocopy of the newspaper's front page while Mr Osborne was speaking, demanded an investigation into the leak. | |
In his response to the Budget, Mr Miliband said Mr Osborne "almost need not have bothered coming" to the Commons "because the whole Budget, including the market-sensitive fiscal forecasts, were in the Standard". | |
He added: "To be fair to the chancellor of the exchequer, I'm sure he didn't intend the whole of the Budget to be in the Standard before he rose to his feet. | |
"I hope he will investigate and report back to the House." | |
The front page of the newspaper gave details of some of the chancellor's major announcements on tax, including his scrapping of the annual alcohol duty escalator and the rise in the personal tax allowance to £10,000 by April 2014. | |
In 1947 Chancellor Hugh Dalton resigned after leaking details of a Budget to journalists. | In 1947 Chancellor Hugh Dalton resigned after leaking details of a Budget to journalists. |