![\"\"](\"https:\/\/mwanzotv.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/BANK-OF-ENGLAND-OCT-24-750x406-1.jpg\")
Public sector net borrowing — the difference between spending and tax receipts — stood at \u00a310.7 billion ($13.8 billion) for the month, the Office for National Statistics said in a statement.<\/p>\n
With finances strained, the government on Tuesday announced contested cuts to disability welfare payments, hoping to save more than \u00a35 billion annually by the end of the decade.<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Keir Starmer followed this up by stating that Britain’s soaring disability costs are “devastating for the public finances”.<\/p>\n
At the same time, Labour recently said it would hike spending on defence.<\/p>\n
Friday’s data come before finance minister Rachel Reeves’s Spring Statement on Wednesday, when billions of pounds of spending cuts across various government departments are set to be detailed.<\/p>\n
However Reeves, whose official title is chancellor of the exchequer, is not expected to break her self-imposed fiscal rule, stating that she will not borrow for day-to-day spending.<\/p>\n
The restriction is designed to ensure that the government’s spending plans maintain credibility in financial markets.<\/p>\n
Senior Treasury official Darren Jones on Friday said the government was focused on “sound public finances, based on our non-negotiable fiscal rules.<\/p>\n
“This government will never play fast and loose with the public finances,” he added in a statement reacting to the latest data.<\/p>\n
Alex Kerr, UK economist at Capital Economics research group, said “the significant overshoot in borrowing in February highlights the chancellor’s tight fiscal backdrop”.<\/p>\n
bcp\/yad<\/p>\n
\u00a9 Agence France-Presse<\/p>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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