Osborne says data highlights need to cut deficit

Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, waits to speak at a news conference at the Treasury, in central London July 20 2010.

LONDON (Reuters) - An unexpected rise in government borrowing last month highlights the need for Britain to get on with cutting the deficit, chancellor George Osborne said on Tuesday.

"The public finances numbers today remind us why we need to get on top of the budget deficit," Osborne told a news conference.

Official figures published earlier on Tuesday showed the public sector net cash requirement rose unexpectedly on a year ago to 20.905 billion pounds in June, its highest level since records began in April 1984, and confounding economists' forecasts for a fall to 15 billion pounds.

The government's preferred accruals-based measure of public sector net borrowing came in at 14.498 billion pounds, slightly below last year's level of 14.725 billion but also above economists' 13.1 billion pounds forecast.

The coalition government unveiled a package of spending cuts and tax rises in an emergency budget last month designed to cut a record deficit to almost nothing in five years.