UK government borrowing target back on track

800m fall in borrowing on same month last year bolsters chancellor's budget war chest

Philip Hammond's plan to bring down the government's annual borrowing was back on track last month after a blowout in August that knocked the chancellor off course.

Public sector net borrowing in September, excluding the nationalised banks, was 4.1bn - 800m less than in the same month last year. The drop had the effect of cutting the level of borrowing since April to 19.9bn, which is 10.7bn less than in the first six months of the 2017 financial year.