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The UK government borrowed £20.7bn in June, more than expected, as chancellor Rachel Reeves struggles with the country’s weak economic growth and her own fiscal rules.
The shortfall between government income and spending was £6.6bn more than in June 2024 and higher than the £17.1bn forecast for June this year by the UK’s fiscal watchdog.
Tuesday’s figures from the Office for National Statistics follow government U-turns on spending and welfare cuts that have heightened expectations of tax rises in the autumn Budget.
The Labour government has little headroom to meet its pledge to fund day-to-day spending from revenues by 2029/30 — a margin that risks vanishing when the Office for Budget Responsibility, the fiscal watchdog, publishes its next forecasts for the economy and public finances.
This is a developing story
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