New official figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Friday morning revealed that government borrowing in August was the highest for the month since the height of the COVID pandemic in 2020 – and that spending on public services, debt interest and benefits outstripped tax receipts, despite tax and national insurance receipts increasing.
The government borrowed £18 billion in August, £3.5 billion more than the same month last year and the highest August figure in five years. Borrowing over the first five months of this financial year has now reached £83.8bn, making it the second-highest April to August borrowing since monthly records began in 1993, after that of 2020.
This latest news again reveals that the Chancellor has lost control of the public finances with much needed welfare reforms having been abandoned.
Richard Fuller MP, Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, commented:
This is appalling news. Rachel Reeves has made disastrous decisions since becoming Chancellor and public finances are spiralling out of control. In government, Labour are addicted to a tax and debt-fuelled expansion of the state.
Government is living beyond its means. Raising taxes even further is not the answer.
The Government must rethink its spending plans, must stop handing out pay increases without productivity improvements and must bring forward proposals to reduce the debt burden we are passing on to future generations.
