Chancellor to raise UK government borrowing to fund budget measures – OBR

The HM Treasury building in Whitehall. The OBR, the independent forecaster for the Treasury, said government borrowing would rise. Photograph: Luke MacGregor/Bloomberg/Getty Images

The chancellor will raise government borrowing to help fund a 2p cut in national insurance contributions from April, according to an assessment of the spring budget by the Treasury’s independent forecaster.

The Office for Budget Responsibility said the chief measures to pay for Jeremy Hunt’s budget measures, including the cut in national insurance and a reduction in capital gains tax, would come from an average extra £8bn of borrowing in each of the years to 2028-29.