The Trump administration has abandoned its goal to reform the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, dropping a legal fight over the changes this week.  The Education Department wanted to place limits on who could qualify for PSLF, which gives student loan forgiveness to people in government and nonprofit jobs after 10 years of payments. It…

The Trump administration has abandoned its goal to reform the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, dropping a legal fight over the changes this week.  The Education Department wanted to place limits on who could qualify for PSLF, which gives student loan forgiveness to people in government and nonprofit jobs after 10 years of payments. It…

UK public debt crossed the £3 trillion mark for the first time at the end of September 2026, the National Statistics Office reported on Wednesday, October 21.

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The accumulated public sector liabilities stood at £3.005 trillion, equivalent to €3.57 trillion, according to the provisional estimate released by the National Statistics Office. The figure represented 94 percent of UK gross domestic product and marked a historic high, the agency reported.

The balance grew by £91.7 billion compared with the level recorded twelve months earlier, about €109.074 billion, according to the provisional estimate.

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Despite the nominal record, the weight of the liabilities on the economy as a whole fell by seven tenths compared with the 2025 level, the agency reported. The agency recalled that net debt exceeded £2 trillion in June 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, and had surpassed £1 trillion in February 2010, following the global financial crisis.

September public borrowing amounted to £24.5 billion, or €29.142 billion, and was the second highest recorded for that month, according to the National Statistics Office. Only the September 2020 figure, unadjusted for inflation, was higher. Compared with the previous year, the imbalance increased by £1.8 billion, or 7.7 percent, because spending growth outpaced income growth, the agency reported.

Britain’s national debt has climbed above £3tn for the first time, underlining the pressure on the public finances before John Healey’s maiden Budget next week

🔗 https://t.co/xKIQKqOhib pic.twitter.com/ExKxQ7hI95

— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) October 21, 2026

Central government debt interest reached £10.9 billion in September, the highest figure recorded in the ninth month of the year since monthly records began in 1997, according to the National Statistics Office.

Annual inflation stood at 3.5 percent in September, four tenths above the August figure and the largest increase since October 2025, according to the National Statistics Office. The price of goods rose 3.2 percent year on year, compared with 2.7 percent in August, while services became 3.7 percent more expensive. Core inflation, which excludes energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, advanced to 2.8 percent, two tenths more than in August.

New surveys show that increases in premiums and deductibles are forcing people to forgo treatments or doctor’s visits while budgets are strained by higher food and gas prices.

Sanae Takaichi has done something few Japanese leaders manage. She’s reached her first anniversary in office more popular than her predecessors, and she looks well placed to keep the job. In a country that has burned through five prime ministers in a decade, this counts for a lot. Popularity, though, is only one of two […]

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