Chief Secretary to the Treasury, James Murray said: “Our deficit is down £19.8bn because of our plan to cut borrowing.
In a volatile world the decisions we are taking are the right ones to keep costs down, take back our energy security and cut borrowing and debt. “We’re also reforming our public services to boost productivity, making them more efficient and delivering more for working people for less, while protecting our record £120 billion investment in capital spending.”
On background:
- March is typically a higher spending month in the public sector ahead of the end of the financial year as departments aim to use their remaining budgets.
- Public Sector Net Borrowing (PSNB) was £19.8 billion lower in 2025-26 compared to 2024-25.
- We have increased our headroom against the stability rule to £23.7bn so that we can weather shocks and keep borrowing costs down.
- We are set to reduce the deficit by £20bn from 24-25 to 25-26 - from 5.2% to 4.3% of GDP.
- The IMF also expects the UK’s deficit to fall in every year between 2025 and 2031, falling to the joint-lowest level (with Canada) in the G7 by 2029 - showing we have the right economic plan.
