Business News Live – Government borrowing reaches highest level since Covid in September

Pizza Hut has revealed the locations of 68 restaurant locations which will close in the UK after the company that opened the restaurants went into administration.

It will also close 11 delivery sites as part of the restructuring, putting 1,210 staff at risk of redundancy.

DC London Pies, the firm that runs Pizza Hut’s UK dine-in restaurants under a franchise deal, on Monday appointed administrators from corporate finance firm FTI.

American hospitality giant Yum! Brands, which owns the global Pizza Hut business, said it has now bought the UK restaurant operations in a pre-packed administration deal, saving 64 sites.

Here are the locations that are scheduled to close:

Commenting further on the government borrowing numbers, Danny Hewson, head of financial analysis at AJ Bell, suggested the government still has work to do to stimulate growth despite the “commendable long-term” changes already made.

“This set of government borrowing figures leaves Rachel Reeves facing the difficult job of trying to balance the country’s books.

“The Chancellor has increased taxes on employers, announced infrastructure investment and planning reforms, and promised to cut red tape for businesses today. But all those tax-raising, growth-inducing measures have not been able to offset the growing weight at the other end of the swing.

“Today’s world demands instant gratification and finding a magical money tree is a plot twist usually reserved for fairy tales. In the real world this budget is likely to be dry, difficult and divisive.”

The Prime Minister has rebuked First Minister John Swinney, saying whiskey talks with the US are about “hard yards” rather than “one-off photo opportunities”.

Mr Swinney has made securing a deal with the US to cut whiskey tariffs a key part of his premiership in recent months, and has met with President Donald Trump on several occasions this year in the hope of reducing the levy.

Despite international trade being a reserved issue, the UK government led the First Minister’s participation in the negotiations.

Speaking to a group of Scottish journalists in Downing Street on Monday, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: “Negotiations and getting the trade deal you want… is about having a tough period of negotiations and that’s what we’re doing.”

Thomas Pugh, chief economist at tax and consulting firm RSM UK, said today’s figures mean Rachel Reeves will need to find around £30bn in the budget.

“There was a bit of good news for the Chancellor in today’s release. Government borrowing came in roughly in line with the OBR’s forecast in September, which is positive after the August borrowing limit. What’s more, cumulative borrowing so far this year was revised down slightly,” he said.

“However, the bigger picture is that cumulative borrowing is still well above the OBR forecast and the latest release still paints a picture of deteriorating public finances. The Chancellor will likely have to raise around £30bn in the autumn Budget.

“Importantly, the current budget deficit, which now matters for fiscal rules, came in at -£13.4 billion, which is £1.2 billion higher than the OBR forecast and £13.0 billion higher cumulatively for the fiscal year so far. This is the number that matters for the Chancellor’s fiscal mandate and is even less positive than the headline numbers.

“Looking ahead to the Budget in the autumn, we are planning a tax increase of around £30 billion. We expect some spending cuts to be accompanied by salami cuts in fiscal pressures, an expansion of the NIC base and other tax increases to help ease the end of the decade.”

Government borrowing costs rose to £20.2 billion in September, in line with OBR expectations but the highest for the month since Covid.

The figure was £1.5 billion more than the same period a year earlier, while total lending for the first half of the year is almost £100 billion.

ONS chief economist Grant Fitzner said: “Last month September saw the highest borrowing in five years.

“Debt interest, public services and the cost of providing benefits have all increased over the last year, more than offset by the increase in receipts from central government taxes and national insurance contributions.

“Similarly, the first six months of the fiscal year saw the highest overall deficit since 2020.”

All morning, there’s a lot coming over the next few hours, starting with the latest UK financial data affecting you (or in this case paid for by you): inheritance tax levels, as well as the latest lending data.

Next month’s Budget is on everyone’s agenda, so these – as well as tomorrow’s inflation data – are important figures.