London

THE United Kingdom is set to remain a high-borrowing welfare state in the next few years as the government has scaled back its austerity policies in its latest spending review.

To finance spending and at the same time slash the government deficit, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne is raising stamp duty on new rental properties, applying a 0.5 per cent levy on businesses helping the arts and, above all, relying on growth forecasts of 2.4 per cent per annum.