Borrowing likely to be higher than last financial year, ONS figures show

Fall in tax receipts means George Osborne is likely to breach his own rule, that annual deficit should fall in each year of parliament

George Osborne's plan to cut the budget deficit remained off-track in February after self-assessment tax receipts failed to repeat last year's bounce. Official figures showed that borrowing is likely to be higher in this financial year than in 2014-15, in breach of the chancellor's fiscal rule that the annual deficit should fall in each year of parliament.

But inflation remained subdued at 0.3% for the year to February, helping to underpin forecasts for economic growth that depend on modest increases in consumer prices relative to wages over the next four years.

Related: UK government's borrowing target adrift after fall in tax receipts