Lower public borrowing gives Sunak room to stall NICs rise Fresh data from the Office for National Statistics show UK public borrowing was £12.9bn lower than official forecasts in the financial year to December, leading experts to argue that the Chancellor now has the fiscal room needed to cancel the hike in National Insurance Contributions planned for April. Public sector net borrowing was estimated to have been £147bn, nearly half of that in the same period the previous year. “This fiscal room for manoeuvre makes it inevitable that the Chancellor will set out a plan to deal with the cost of living crunch,” said James Smith, research director at the Resolution Foundation. However, due to a rise in the retail prices index, the Government paid £8.1bn in debt interest in December, 200% higher than the £2.7bn bill in the previous year. Net borrowing came in at £16.8bn for the month, broadly in line with Office for Budget Responsibility projections. Total public sector debt, excluding bailouts for banks, was £2.34trn at the end of December, roughly 96% of GDP. Meanwhile, Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has reportedly raised concerns with the Chancellor about the 1.25% increase in NICs, with his allies saying he has warned Rishi Sunak against going through with it.