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The Treasury borrowed the third-highest sum of any month on record in August, according to official figures, as the foreign minister prepares to unleash his latest support for the coronavirus-hit economy.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported that net public sector indebtedness, excluding the effects of bank bailouts, was estimated at £ 35.9 billion last month, the highest amount ever recorded in August.
That was £ 30.5bn more than in the same month last year and is explained by the government’s efforts to fund its COVID-19 employment medicine and disease control efforts.
The ONS said it took out loans in the first five months of the financial year at £ 173.7 billion, another record for the period since records began in 1993.
It meant that the UK national debt, which exceeded £ 2 billion in July, now stood at a new high of £ 2.024bn, an increase of £ 249.5bn in August 2019.
The sobering figures were released just one day after Rishi Sunak unveiled a new package of measures to support jobs and businesses during the winter months as virus restrictions across the UK are tightened to control rates of infection.
The incumbent was the Labor Support Plan (JSS) which will replace the current leave support when it fully expires at the end of next month.
It will assist those in “viable” jobs who are back at work only but will provide a supplement in salary support to cover the reduced hours.
Separate figures from the ONS released Thursday estimated that 12% of the workforce was on partial leave or remained on full leave earlier this month.
The JSS terms sparked warnings in some quarters that those still on leave were being dropped amid previous Bank of England projections of three million unemployed by Christmas.
There was growing evidence of unrest within the government’s own ranks.
Conservative MP John Redwood took to Twitter to record his own protest.
He wrote: “The Chancellor needs to improve his plan to save jobs. Businesses that are closed by law to stop the virus need compensation. Much of his jobs will be needed when the law is relaxed.”
Sunak has repeatedly warned that not all businesses or jobs can be saved as it moves forward to provide more incentives to keep people at work and economic recovery on track despite heavy restrictions from the virus.
He has argued that it would be “fundamentally wrong” for people to hold onto jobs that can only exist thanks to state funding, but has declined to say which sectors are likely to be lost.
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