Labour finance spokesman leaked budget

The Labour party’s finance spokesman Paul Tang has admitted leaking parts of Tuesday’s budget presentation, including the latest macro-economic figures, to RTL tv news.


Tang has apologised to the parliamentary chairwoman Gerdi Verbeek and been stripped of his position for one month, the Telegraaf reports.
The budget documents were distributed to the leaders of all political parties on Friday under strict embargo to give them time to prepare for Wednesday’s debate.
But Nos tv already broadcast some of the details, including the latest macro economic forecast, late on Friday, followed by RTL news, and a number of newspapers.
Every year parts of the budget leak ahead of the official presentation on the third Tuesday in September. This year, prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende decided the press would not get advance copies in an effort to stem the leaks. And each party’s specific copies were printed on watermarked paper to make any leaks easier to trace.

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