The huge sums that the Government has borrowed during the Covid-19 crisis have pushed the deficit to its highest point since the end of the Second World War, according to new figures.
The Office for National Statistics said that public sector net borrowing - the Government's debt - reached £303.1billion in the financial year to the end of March.
This was 14.5% of gross domestic product (GDP), the highest level since 1946, when the deficit hit 15.2% of GDP. It is a rise from a deficit of £57billion in the tax year ending March 2020.
In the post-war era the debt levels peaked in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, hitting around 10% of GDP. The average deficit since 1970 has been 3.4% of GDP.
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