UK borrowed £24.5 billion in September, challenging John Healey's budget
The UK government borrowed £24.5 billion last month, way more than expected, mostly because inflation pushed up the cost of paying interest on national debt.
This means John Healey has a big challenge as he gets ready to announce his budget on October 28, with the highest September debt interest figure since records began partly blamed on rising energy costs linked to the Iran war.
UK inflation adds £4bn, debt £3tn
Inflation added an extra £4 billion to debt interest in September alone, and total government debt has now hit £3 trillion (that's 94% of everything the UK produces in a year).
Even though borrowing is slightly down from last year, it's still higher than planned at £97.8 billion so far this fiscal year.
The Office for Budget Responsibility expects borrowing to be £6bn higher than the OBR expected, but for now, Healey will have less wiggle room than Rachel Reeves when setting out his plans.