BRITAIN'S beleaguered public finances have caused George Osborne a fresh headache as new figures left the Chancellor on course to miss his deficit reduction target and offered limited scope for giveaways in his Autumn Statement next month.
Despite the economic recovery and jobs boom, Treasury revenues have been weaker than expected in the fiscal year to date, partly due to disappointing income tax take and the cooling housing market weighing on stamp duties.
Government borrowing, excluding the effect of bank bailouts, fell £200 million to £7.7 billion last month but for the April-October period it was £3.7bn or 6.1 per cent bigger than at the same stage last year.
It leaves Mr Osborne looking increasingly unlikely to meet the 12 per cent cut in the annual deficit for 2014/15 pencilled in by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility, the independent forecaster.
The monthly figures from the Office for National Statistics are the last before the Chancellor delivers his economic statement on December 3.
It will be accompanied by the latest updated forecasts from the OBR. It explained higher borrowing so far this year reflected the fact that growth in central government receipts had been much weaker than forecast at the time of the spring budget.
"Factors such as weaker than expected wage growth, lower than expected residential property transactions and lower oil and gas revenues make it unlikely that the full year receipts growth forecast from March will be met," said the forecaster.
Chris Leslie, for Labour, described the latest figures as a "damaging setback" for Mr Osborne.
"His promise to balance the books by next year lies in tatters," he said.
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