LONDON (Reuters) -Britain borrowed more than expected in October, according to official data that showed the scale of the challenge facing finance minister Rachel Reeves who says she will fix the public finances as well as increase spending sharply.

In October alone, public sector net borrowing stood at 17.4 billion pounds ($22.0 billion), the Office for National Statistics said on Thursday.

That was higher than a median forecast of 12.3 billion pounds in a Reuters poll of economists.

It was the second-biggest October borrowing total since records began in 1993.

In the first seven months of the tax year, borrowing totalled 96.6 billion pounds, 1.1 billion pounds higher than in the same period a year earlier.

($1 = 0.7908 pounds)

(Writing by William Schomberg; Editing by Muvija M and Paul Sandle)