Borrowing dip boost for chancellor

GOVERNMENT borrowing has reached its lowest level in nearly a decade, but the Chancellor has overshot his independent target for shoring up the public finances.

The Office for National Statistics said public sector net borrowing, excluding banks, dropped by £20bn to £52bn for the last financial year, in contrast to the same period the year before, the lowest such figure since March 2008.

However, the Government came in shy of the financial year target of £51.7bn set by the the Office for Budget Responsibility in the Spring Budget.

Chancellor Philip Hammond will be cheered by the performance of the UK’s public finances after coming within a whisker of hitting the full-year target as the Government gears up for the General Election on June 8.

But economist John Hawksworth said: “It is good news that the deficit is coming down, but it is too soon to be complacent about the state of the public finances.”