UK economy hit as people shop less than pre-Covid

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There is a gloomy picture for the UK economy with the government borrowing up and people shopping less than before.

Retail sales volumes were down more than expected.

Government borrowing hit a record high in September.

The Office for National Statistics said that consumers are buying less than before the Pandemic.

Retailers told us that the fall in September was partly because many stores were closed for the Queen's funeral, but also because of continued price pressures.

The director of economic statistics said drops were seen across all types of shops with falling sales in food stores seeing the biggest decline.

The UK is borrowing a lot of money to limit energy bill increases.

The Office for National Statistics said that borrowing was up from a year ago.

September's borrowing is the second highest on record.

At the height of the coronaviruses in September 2020, the figure was higher than it is today.

Government borrowing is expected to go up in the coming months.

Independent forecasts are made by the Office For Budget Responsibility on what impact government decisions will have on borrowing and growth.

"Today's numbers show that borrowing in the first half of this year was £72 billion, which is almost the same as the Office for Budget Responsibility's forecast for this period in March," said Carl Emmerson, deputy director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies

The huge cost of government support for household and business energy use only began in earnest this month and this is not a good guide to how much borrowing will be over the whole of this financial year.

He said the borrowing this year could be more than expected.

Government borrowing is expected to only get worse from October onwards according to a senior economist.

The government's energy price guarantee for households and businesses was one of the reasons for this.

Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor, said that protecting the public finances meant difficult decisions would have to be made.

We will do whatever is necessary to drive down debt in the medium term and to ensure that taxpayers' money is well spent as we grow the economy.