Economics / Markets

The Government's plans to return Britain to growth have been dealt a major blow as new figures reveal household spending fell in October at its fastest pace since January, while debt levels rose for the first time in nine months.

Legal & General has been forced to publish part of its third-quarter results more than two weeks early after mistakenly sending the figures to analysts.

The FTSE 100 remains marginally in the red this afternoon, with miners dragging on the index.

Asian insurer AIA raised $17.8bn in its long-awaited IPO this morning, valuing the group at $30.5bn.

The FTSE leapt to a six-month high on Thursday thanks to bumper corporate results across Europe and the US and a strong showing from miners.

The FTSE 100 rose 0.5% to 5,757.22 in early trading, despite negative company announcements across various sectors.

Government borrowing hit a record high in September, with the biggest deficit for the month since records began in 1993.

Shadow Chancellor Alan Johnson says Osborne's Spending Review amounts to a "reckless gamble with people's livelihoods" and accused the government of being motivated by ideological reasons.

UK equity markets and sterling were largely unfazed by today's Spending Review with investors unsuprised by the level of the cuts.

The coalition government has announced a staggering £81bn in spending cuts, but can the economy take them?