The chancellor is on course to miss his deficit-cutting target this year, according to the latest figures, giving him a headache in the run up to the 2015 election when the economy takes centre stage.
Weak tax receipts pushed borrowing to £11.6bn in August excluding bank bailouts, £700m more than a year earlier according to the Office for National Statistics. Borrowing in the fiscal year so far, from April to August, was £45.5bn, £2.6bn higher than the same period last year.
Better kick the poors some more.