UK launches investigation into bank tax budget leak

Résumé détaillé

LONDON, Nov 10 - Britain's government is investigating how details of a bank tax rise were reported in the media before finance minister John Healey announced them in his budget last month, according to a letter published by a parliamentary committee on Tuesday. Read more at straitstimes.com.

Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, John Healey, holds up the traditional red ministerial box outside No 11 Downing Street before departing to the House of Commons to deliver the first budget under Prime Minister Andy Burnham's government, in London, Britain, October 28, 2026. REUTERS/Dylan Martinez/Pool

LONDON, Nov 10 - Britain's government is investigating how details of a bank tax rise were reported in the media before finance minister John Healey announced them in his budget last month, according to a letter published by a parliamentary committee on Tuesday.

Hours before Healey's October 28 budget, Bloomberg reported that it would contain a temporary bank tax increase of less than 8%, lower than lenders had feared, sending bank shares rallying.

In a letter to parliament's Treasury Committee, the finance ministry's top civil servant James Bowler said he had been assured that no banks, their representatives, or trade bodies were briefed on the changes before Healey's statement.

However, he said there was a "necessary widening" of the circle of knowledge within government immediately before the delivery of a budget.

Lawmaker Meg Hillier, chair of the Treasury Committee, said she suspected the inquiry would find no evidence of a breach.

She said she would push for answers when Healey appears before the committee on Wednesday.

The leak inquiry represents a setback for Healey, who has sought to tighten Treasury security since last year's budget, when the budget watchdog's forecasts were accessible before then-finance minister Rachel Reeves began speaking, as Reuters first reported.

A separate inquiry into a Financial Times report two weeks before that budget that Reeves had dropped plans to hike income tax failed to identify a source.

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