Rachel Reeves is having to borrow more and more money to keep Britain’s show on the road. Figures on the public finances, published this morning by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), show that in the financial year to February we borrowed over £132 billion. That is nearly £15 billion more than at the same point in the last financial year and is the fourth-highest borrowing period since records began in 1993. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) had expected borrowing to total £128 billion for the whole financial year and, by this point, that forecast is already more than £20 billion short.
The OBR's budgetary boffins will update that forecast today when they hand the Chancellor their final economic outlook ahead of the Spring Statement next week.
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