Osborne’s double dose

As Isabel reported earlier, today’s public finance statistics contained a double dose of bad news for George Osborne. Not only did borrowing in May come in higher than expected at £17.9 billion — £2.7 billion higher than May last year — but the borrowing figures for the last two years were revised up as well. Before today, we thought the government had borrowed £136.8 billion in 2010/11 and £124.4 billion in 2011/12. Today, we learn it was in fact £140.6 billion and £127.6 billion respectively. That means we borrowed £3.2 billion more than we thought last year, and £11.6 billion more than the £116 billion Osborne told us we would in his first budget. It also turns out, incidentally, that Labour borrowed £3.9 billion more in its last year in government than we thought back then.