This morning’s public borrowing figures do not make happy reading for the government. Despite July traditionally providing good news in terms of tax receipts, Chancellor Zero has borrowed £600 million in the last month – compared with a £2.8 billion surplus in the same month last year. The total borrowing projection for this year is now some £30 billion more than in 2011, despite the Coalition predicting that borrowing would fall.

BBC News‘ Jane Hill is suggesting that the government has borrowed the money “by accident“. Perhaps she has been reading Tory whip Greg Hands’ tweets to Guido:

@GuidoFawkes Yes, but point is Labour would do it deliberately.

— Greg Hands (@GregHands) August 21, 2012

Well that’s okay then…