Britain's coveted AAA rating has come under further pressure after official figures showed another leap in public sector borrowing.
The figure, excluding financial interventions such as bank bailouts, was £15.4 billion in December, compared with £14.8 billion in the same month the previous year.
It is slightly worse than the £15.2 billion pencilled in by economists.
It comes after an unexpected increase in November, when borrowing rose to £17.5 billion, up £1.2 billion from last year, after tax receipts were dented by lower energy company profits.
