UK economy
The UK borrowed £17.5bn in November 2012 said the ONS (Reuters)

Britain's economy did not perform as well as first thought in the third quarter, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), and public borrowing soared by more than expected in November pushing the country's budget deficit higher.

As it stands, public debt is now £1.08tn, which is equivalent to 68.5 percent of GDP - the highest ratio in over 40 years.

Third quarter GDP has been revised down to 0.9 percent from initial estimates of 1 percent expansion, as the country emerged from recession after getting a boost from the London 2012 Olympics and a quirk in the data.

Both the service and manufacturing sectors saw their output revised down for the third quarter, though the construction sector was re-estimated to a slower contraction.

Public sector net borrowing was £17.5bn in November, up £1.2bn on the same month the year before.

The ONS also reported that the public sector current budget deficit was £15.8bn in November, a £1bn rise on November 2011.

Increased economic activity during the London 2012 Olympic Games, as well as the data correcting itself from anomalous lost output due to the one-off extra public holiday for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, sent the GDP reading soaring in the third quarter.

However underlying growth remains flat, as evidence by the figure being revised down.

Chancellor George Osborne has already admitted that he will miss his fiscal target of bringing debt down as a percentage of GDP by 2015/16.

This admission has raised the spectre of a downgrade for the UK's AAA-rated public finances.

Weak economic output and falling tax receipts has pushed up borrowing, something Osborne had not anticipated, complicating the government's austerity programme which will now be deeper and extend for a longer period of time than had originally been planned.

HMRC figures reveal that tax receipts have tumbled across the year in November, when they collected £33.56bn.

It is down from the previous November's £35.63bn.