The UK's total public debt is now larger than the entire economy for the first time in nearly 60 years according to latest monthly figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showing the devastating impact of the coronavirus on the public finances.

Public borrowing in May at £55.2bn was the highest on record and slightly higher than April's figure of £48.5bn reaching a total of £1,950bn, or 100.9% of GDP for the first time since March 1963.The government has borrowed more in the first two months of this crisis than in the ten months following the collapse of the Lehman Brothers in September 2008.