The report reveals that borrowing in the current financial year-to-date was £46.3bn, £4.3bn more than in the same period last year; this is the highest April-to-October borrowing for two years (since 2017), though April-to-October 2018 remains the lowest in such a period for 12 years (since 2007).

The ONS has highlighted that debt at the end of October 2019 was £1,798.5bn (or 80.4% of gross domestic product, GDP), an increase of £32.1bn (or a decrease of 1.1 percentage points) on October 2018.

The report has found that last month, the public sector spent more money than it received in taxes and other income, meaning it had to borrow £11.2bn, £2.3bn more than in October 2018. Of this £11.2bn, central government borrowed £7.6bn, local government borrowed £1.0bn and the Bank of England’s contribution to net borrowing was £2.5bn.

These figures arrive as both the Labour Party and the Conservative Party have promised to increase public spending if they win the general election next month.