Thanks for joining me. The Treasury borrowed £6.6bn more than its annual target, official figures show, in a blow to Jeremy Hunt’s goal to get the deficit down.
Public sector borrowing, excluding banks, hit £11.9bn last month, meaning the Government borrowed £120.7bn during the financial year and missed its target set by the Office for Budget Responsibility.
5 things to start your day
1) Stagnant Britain is becoming like France, says World Bank chief economist | Bloated state hurting growth, says Indermit Gill, as tax burden heads for record high
2) ‘Iran is broke’: How clerics crippled the Islamic Republic | Decades of sanctions and corruption put a limit on Tehran’s war posturing
3) City advisers rake in £80m from Nationwide’s planned £2.9bn Virgin Money takeover | Revealed fees likely to reignite controversy over Nationwide deal
4) Mobile firms to miss deadline to fix rural ‘not-spots’ | Operators’ plea for an extension rejected as they struggle to build enough masts
5) Co-founder of private equity giant behind Six Nations to…
