THE Chancellor’s woes have increased after the Government was revealed to have borrowed £20billion more than expected.
The £132billion of public spending in the past financial year to February far exceeded forecasts and has pushed our debt mountain higher.
Borrowing last month was £10.7billion - well above the £7billion that had been predicted.
Borrowing for the whole year is now set to hit an eye-watering £151billion - some £23billion more than the October forecast, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
The think tank estimated this would be £63billion more than the Office for Budget Responsibility’s forecast a year ago - before Labour came into power in July.
It piles further pressure on Rachel Reeves ahead of her Spring Statement on Wednesday, where she is preparing to unleash spending cuts .
The Chancellor is bracing for the OBR to drastically downgrade its economic growth forecast for the year.
And the £9.9billion of headroom she banked on in her tax-raising Budget last autumn is understood to have already evaporated because of stubbornly high inflation .
To stay within her self-imposed fiscal rules Ms Reeves will cut funding earmarked for Whitehall departments.
She is set to blame global uncertainties, such as US President Donald Trump’s tariffs , on the pitiful growth outlook.
But bosses have pointed to her £40billion of tax hikes, set to hit next month, as a choke on business output.
Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride yesterday told his opposite number to “get a grip”;.
But Labour’s chief secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones said of the party’s plans: “We must go further and faster to create an agile and productive state that works for people.”;
