Government borrowing puts Chancellor in tricky position

GOVERNMENT borrowing overshot official projections in September, in a sign of the difficult fiscal position that the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, faces as she puts the finishing touches to her first tax-and-spend Budget.

- CHRIS DORRELL

According to new figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), Government borrowing totalled £16.6 billion in September. This was the thirdhighest September borrowing since records began in 1993. It was also ahead of official forecasts.

Back in March, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecast that the Government would borrow £15.1 billion in September. This means that Government borrowing has come in £6.7 billion ahead of the OBR's forecasts so far this year.