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

“These figures show George Osborne has broken his promise to balance the books by this year and national debt is still rising.

“His failure on the deficit is because falling living standards over the last five years have led to tax revenues falling short. This government is now set to have borrowed over £200 billion more than planned.

“Labour will take a tough but balanced approach. We will cut the deficit every year, get the current budget into surplus and national debt falling as soon as possible in the next Parliament. Our plan will make sensible spending cuts, reverse the Tory tax cut for millionaires and change our economy so we earn our way to sustained rises in living standards for all. That’s the only way to balance the books in a fair way while protecting our NHS.

“In contrast the Tories want a risky and extreme plan for even deeper spending cuts which would take public spending back to a share of national income last seen in the 1930s. And they have now made £7 billion of unfunded tax promises, which can only be paid for by even deeper cuts to public spending or another Tory VAT rise.”