Public borrowing shoots to record April high

The ONS said net borrowing excluding financial interventions such as bank bail-outs hit £10bn in the month, compared to £7.3bn in April 2010. It said tax receipts in April last year were boosted by a one-off bank payroll tax which raised £3.5bn. April's figure was higher than many analysts' expectations of about £6.5bn. Elsewhere, government borrowing figures for the year to March 2011 were revised downwards to £139.4bn, from £141.1bn. The revision was mainly due to the tax take being boosted from a rise in VAT to 20% from 17.5%, said the ONS.