Public borrowing lower than expected, debt at record

LONDON (Reuters) - British public borrowing was lower than expected in December, thanks to stronger tax receipts, but total outstanding debt rose above the 1 trillion pound mark for the first time on record, official data showed on Tuesday. The Office for National Statistics said that public sector net borrowing excluding public sector interventions - the government's preferred measure - fell to 13.708 billion pounds last month from 15.912 billion pounds in December 2010. This was below economists' average forecast in a Reuters poll of 14. ...