Fast-rising borrowing costs putting UK public finances at great risk, warns OBR

Food inflation in the UK has risen sharply. The OBR said the UK government’s failure to tackle price rises dangerously exposed its public debt level. Photograph: Matthew Horwood/Getty Images

The UK’s public finances are in a “very risky period” after a series of major shocks that have driven the nation’s borrowing costs to rise at the fastest rate in the G7, the Treasury’s tax and spending watchdog has said.

The independent Office for Budget Responsibility said national debt could surge to more than 300% of gross domestic product by the 2070s, up from about 100% today, and that the government was not taking measures to make big changes in the short term.