The Office for National Statistics has announced that borrowing within the public sector has stayed the same over the last year, at £14.4 billion.

The £14.4 billion figure excludes financial interventions, such as bank bailouts.

The report follows growing speculation that the Chancellor George Osborne is about to backtrack on plans to lower UK debt within three years.

In an interview with Channel Four News, Governor of the Bank of England Mervyn King, said that such a move by the Chancellor would be acceptable on condition that the global economy was growing more slowly.