Chris Leslie MP, Labour’s Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, responding to today’s public sector finance figures, said:

“These figures are a serious blow to George Osborne. Not only is he set to break his promise to balance the books by next year, but borrowing in the first half of this year is now 10 per cent higher than the same period last year. As the OBR said last week, stagnating wages and too many people in low-paid jobs are leading to more borrowing.

“Labour will balance the books and get the national debt falling as soon as possible in the next Parliament, but we will do so in a fairer way.

“We will reverse the £3 billion tax cut for the top one per cent of earners, stop paying the winter fuel allowance to the richest pensioners, raise child benefit by just one per cent for two years and cut ministers’ pay by five per cent. And we will act to secure a strong and balanced recovery that delivers more good jobs and rising living standards for the many, not just a few at the top.”