UK government borrows more than expected in setback before budget | Government borrowing

The UK government borrowed more than expected in October, official figures show, in the final snapshot of the public finances before Rachel Reeves’s crunch budget.The Office for National Statistics said the government borrowed £17.4bn last month. That was lower than the same month last year, but still marked the third highest October deficit in the public finances on record. It is also higher than the £15bn City economists had forecast.In the fiscal year so far, borrowing is running at £116.8bn – 8.4% higher than the same period in 2024, the ONS added, underlining the challenge facing Reeves in balancing the books.The chancellor will deliver her second budget next Wednesday against a difficult political background, after the Treasury floated and then ditched plans to raise income tax.She is expected to raise taxes significantly, in response to a downgrade in economic forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility.skip past newsletter promotionSign up to Business TodayGet set for the working day – we’ll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morningPrivacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.after newsletter promotionMore details soon …