Britain cannot continue 'enormous' borrowing in long term, Sunak says

Britain cannot continue to borrow enormous amounts of money in the long term because it is unsustainable for the economy, finance minister Rishi Sunak said on Tuesday.

"This year we're obviously having to borrow an enormous amount of money to provide support to the economy at a time of crisis, that's the right thing to do," he told BBC TV.

"In terms of the medium term... obviously this can't carry on forever. This level of borrowing, which will be record levels pretty much this year, is not sustainable in the long run."

UK's Sunak says "triple-lock" on pensions is safe

British finance minister Rishi Sunak said the government would stick to its so-called "triple lock" for settling increases in state pensions which could jump next year because of calculation distortions caused by the coronavirus crisis.

Asked by LBC radio whether the triple lock was safe, Sunak said: "Yes, our manifesto commitments are there and that is very much the legislative position. We care very much about pensioners and making sure they have security and that's indeed our policy."

Sunak said in July he would consider "the anomaly" of potentially huge increases in pensions caused by the calculation distortions.