Hammond relying on household debt to hit targets, says McDonnell

Labour frontbencher says millions of families are seeing earnings squeezed so that chancellor can pretend to meet targets

John McDonnell has accused the government of relying on millions of British families going further into debt in order to meet Treasury targets.

The shadow chancellor said families were set to borrow 445bn by the end of the parliament. He also highlighted official figures showing the ratio between household debt and income had reached a five-year high, with forecasts suggesting it will hit 150% by 2022.