[tolerance]

So is the significance of this news based on what could have leaked if the document was not intended for the public? [1]

Or is the significance of this news based on the advantages that players on the market who caught hold of it early will have? Is it only important to civilians relative to their ability to question who may be benefitting from the 40 minute head start that these players might have gained or (for the conspiracy-minded) been handed through nefarious means?

[1]: Which would lead me to ask why would it belong on a platform typically intended for publishing things in public.

[macleginn]

Interestingly, the public discourse in the UK (at least what I have observed, and it was hard not to observe a lot in the last several days) does not focus much (if at all) on the insider trading angle. It's mostly that the chancellor has this important duty to first announce the new budget beofre the Parliament, and if this course of events gets distorted this is very bad for the proper procedure. Now, the sole purpose of OBR is to ensure the proper procedure, so very silly (or "damning") of them to make such a mistake.

At the same time, almost every piece of legislation in recent years has been relentlessly leaked and taken apart way before the official announcement in parliament, so this is a wee bit ridiculous.

[jonplackett]

It’s just about incompetence really. The budget is meant to be highly secret. And they accidentally published their report early. Which would let some people benefit from in financially, but it’s also just very embarrassing for a government. Sometimes budgets contain info that is more valuable than this.