Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne speaks to journalists ahead of the spending review at Imperial College White City on November 9, 2015 in London, England.
Britain borrowed £13.55 billion last month to keep public sectors ticking over, up from £7.47 billion in October. Economists had forecast a deficit of £11 billion.
The UK's current account deficit hit a post-war record high last year and George Osborne's dream of balancing the books and running a budget surplus looks increasingly untenable.
Mike Bird recently pointed out that the Chancellor is trapped in "a nightmare of his own making," after promising to ring fence huge areas of spending and not to raise major taxes as part of the Conservative Party's reelection campaign earlier this year.