The UK Statistics Authority has responded to Prime Minister Cameron’s apparent leak, saying it believes “current practices for pre-release access to official statistics are unsatisfactory.”
It is our view that the current pre-release access arrangements undermine public confidence in official statistics and the professional independence of statisticians. Since responsibility for determining the pre-release rules continues to rest with government, we would urge you to undertake a Review of these arrangements
The fewer people that get their hands on the economic data before it’s released, the better. Otherwise FX risks turning into a cesspool of inside information, like the stock market.
I can’t see any point in giving politicians the data early, other than to prepare speeches that make themselves look good.
