Labour Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell was scathing about Osborne’s comments, saying he was appalled that the idea of cutting back on police numbers was even being discussed, particularly in the wake of the Paris terror attacks.
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That is the highest level of borrowing in October in six years.
“In one line: awful borrowing figures provide grim backdrop to Autumn Statement”, said Samuel Tombs, chief British economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics in London.
The budget deficit for the current financial year – which ends in March – is projected by the Office for Budget Responsibility to come in at just under £70bn.
It is unlikely that Osborne will achieve his goal of borrowing under £69.5 billion for the whole financial year. The chancellor was speaking ahead of revealing changes to the budget in his Autumn Statement on 25 November (Wednesday).
In a statement, the Treasury said Friday’s figures show “the job is not yet done and government borrowing remains too high”.
PWC’s survey found that while a slight majority of the public want the budget deficit down, 61 per cent want higher spending on infrastructure including roads, rail, broadband and housing.
From April to October central government spending rose by 1.1% to £402.6bn.
Overwhelmingly, these exemptions’ beneficiaries are members of the generation that is older.
Many economists say the Treasury does not have any expectation of matching with the outlook for this particular year of the OBR.
The chancellor, George Osborne, is expected to fund the softening of the blow of controversial tax credits reductions by taking away housing benefit from numerous same people who will lose out.
Britain plans to increase the number of stealth fighter jets it can launch from aircraft carriers over the next decade and boost anti-terrorism spending by 30 percent, finance minister George Osborne said on Sunday.
On Wednesday, Osborne will publish updated budget forecasts, in which he is expected to outline how government departments will cut spending by approximately £20bn over the next four years.
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The government borrowing for the twelve months till Oct was at £ 70 billion which takes the total amount of national debt to £ 1.5 trillion which is 80.5 % of the annual economic output of the UK. Economists described the public finance figures variously as “terrible”, “disappointing and very difficult” and “limit[ing] the chancellor’s room for manoeuvre”.
