A confidential Treasury Department document that was seen by the British newspaper The Telegraph labelled “Official – market sensitive”, claimed that the under the “base case scenario” the government is now expecting a £337 billion budget deficit this year, up from the £55 billion that was projected in the March budget.
Under the worst-case scenario, the government projects that the deficit could rise to as high as £516 billion with a five year budget hit of £1.19 trillion.
The document advised Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, to cut public spending and increase taxes, to raise £25 billion and £30 billion per year in order to “stabilise debts” — a move that would go against the 2019 Conservative Party general election manifesto, which promised to not raise taxes.