It’s tempting given the optimistic mood on the Conservative benches at the moment to think that everything is just great with the economy. Not so, according to today’s borrowing figures from the ONS, which show that government borrowing was higher than expected: George Osborne borrowed £13.3bn in May, up £0.7bn from the same month last year, and much higher than the £9.35bn forecast. Tax receipts have been weaker than expected, which has contributed to higher net borrowing.
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Labour is saying that Osborne is now set to break his promise to balance the books by next year, while also arguing that it will balance the books but ‘in a fairer way’. The party still has a lot of detail to fill in on how on earth it would achieve this. The Treasury’s response is that ‘the job is not yet done which is why we must continue to work through the plan that is building a resilient economy’.
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