Jeremy Hunt has been handed a £9.2bn borrowing boost as he seeks potential pre-election giveaways for his Budget next month.

Government borrowing came in at £96.6 billion in the first ten months of the financial year, according to the Office for National Statistics.

This was lower than the official forecasts of spending from the OBR, which thought the Treasury would have £105.8bn by this point.

The extra headroom for the Chancellor comes as the public purse was boosted by a record surplus in January, which is traditionally a strong month as Britons file their tax returns.

The ONS recorded a £16.7bn surplus last month in the public finances, which was more than double the surplus last year and the largest surplus since monthly records began in 1993 in nominal terms.

However, it was still below economists’ estimates of a surplus of £18.4bn.

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