UK budget deficit hits five-year high, before election give-aways

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain ran a much bigger budget deficit last month than expected, showing how public borrowing is already on the rise even before politicians implement any of the costly spending pledges they have made in the run-up to a Dec. 12 election.Borrowing in October alone rose by a quarter compared with a year earlier to 11.2 billion pounds, the Office for National Statistics said, the highest for any October since 2014 and above all economists' forecasts in a Reuters poll.Borrowing..