Chancellor Rachel Reeves has been given a further challenge as government borrowing soared by a quarter to a higher-than-expected £24.3 billion last month after record debt interest costs, official figures have shown.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said borrowing was £4.9 billion higher than a year earlier, to reach the second highest April level on record – surpassed only during the Covid pandemic era, when borrowing was sent rocketing.
It was also £3.4 billion more than the £20.9 billion forecast by the UK’s independent fiscal forecaster, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).
The latest figures showed interest costs on government debt hit £10.3 billion – a record April high and £900 million more than a year ago – as rising inflation impacted index-linked gilts.
It comes as the Chancellor is facing the twin threat of soaring inflation and slowing economic growth caused by the Iran war, while looking to support households and businesses through the cost crunch at a time when public finances are already under strain.
The ONS said borrowing for the financial year to March was revised down by £3 billion to £129 billion – down 15% or £22.8 billion on the previous year – due to “regular updates to our central government data”.
Public sector net debt stood at £2.94 trillion, or 94.2% of gross domestic product, in April, which was 0.5 percentage points more than a year ago and remains at levels last seen in the early 1960s.
Grant Fitzner, ONS chief economist, said: “Borrowing this month was substantially higher than in April last year and although receipts increased compared with April 2025, this was more than offset by higher spending on benefits and other costs.
“Borrowing for the latest full financial year was revised down slightly, and on a comparable basis remains the lowest since the year ending March 2020.”
Borrowing – the difference between total public sector spending and income – was £24.3 billion in April 2026, 25% more than in April 2025.
— Office for National Statistics (ONS) (@ONS) May 22, 2026
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Experts said higher-than-planned welfare spending had also pushed up government borrowing for April.
They also warned that debt interest costs will keep rising over the months ahead as inflation is sent soaring by the Iran war and UK government bonds – also known as gilts – remain under pressure amid economic and political uncertainty.
Yields on gilts have hit levels not seen for decades in recent weeks on concerns over the UK economic outlook and the prospect of a challenge to Prime Minster Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership.
Yields move conversely to the price of bonds, meaning gilts prices fall when yields rise.
Rob Wood, chief UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said: “We estimate that debt interest costs in 2026/27 will be about £15 billion higher than assumed in the budget if gilt yields hold at current levels for the rest of the year.
“Headroom against the fiscal rules would be cut by closer to £10 billion if half the rise in yields since the budget is sustained until 2029-20.
“As best we can tell, political risk has added 20 to 40 basis points to gilt yields and we suspect will keep borrowing costs more elevated than they otherwise would be this year.”
Matt Swannell, chief economic adviser to the Item Club, said: “Having increased fiscal headroom at last year’s Budget, it seems probable that the Government has left enough margin for error to absorb the effects of the conflict in the Middle East.
“But the UK’s current political situation means that continued fiscal slippage remains a risk, either via Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s attempts to regain popularity or from a successor implementing more costly economic policies.”
Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Lucy Rigby, said: “We are cutting borrowing and debt – with our actions reducing Government borrowing by over £20 billion last year – while driving growth through £120 billion of additional capital investment over the Parliament.
“Working families have benefited from falls in inflation and cuts to interest rates – and our non-negotiable fiscal rules will be all the more important to continue to protect them as we face the consequences of the war that we have played no part in.”
