Government borrowing fell by £1.6bn to £4.8bn last month compared to October 2015, thanks to better than expected tax revenues.

The figures - which are good news in advance of tomorrow's Autumn Statement - showed £2bn covered revenue spend and the rest infrastructure.

However, the deficit is still 4% of GDP while total debt stands at 83.8% of GDP.

The amount borrowed by the public sector has been steadily falling since 2010.

In the financial year ending March 2016 the public sector borrowed £76bn. This was £20bn lower than in the previous financial year and less than half of that in the financial year ending March 2010 - both in terms of money and percentage of GDP.

Local government net borrowing for the financial year-to-date (April to October 2016) was estimated to be £0.9bn, a £2.6bn increase in local government net borrowing on the same period in the previous financial year.

This increase was largely due to decreases in government grant funding, partially offset by spending cuts.