Massive borrowing to fund the fight against coronavirus means the UK's debt is now bigger than the country's entire economic output for the first time since 1963, official statistics have revealed.
Ministers borrowed a record-setting £55.2 billion in May according to the Office of National Statistics, sending public sector borrowing nine times higher than this time last year.
It means the UK’s debt mountain has also now grown to more than the entire country’s annual output. The UK's total stands at 100.9% of the country's Gross Domestic Product, the first time that has happened in 57 years.
Borrowing in the current financial year-to-date, which is April and May, is estimated to have been £103.7 billion – up £87 billion on the same period a