Britain's budget surplus hit a record high in January as corporation tax receipts surged more than 50 per cent, official data showed today.
The ONS said the public sector posted a record net cash repayment of £21.1 billion sterling compared with analysts' forecasts of £16 billion.
That left the net cash requirement in the financial year to date more than a billion pounds lower than at the same time a year ago. Britain's financial year ends in early April.
The data are a welcome boost to Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown, who has come under fire for rising government borrowing and a downgrade to economic growth just when he looks closer than ever to succeeding Tony Blair as prime minister.
The government's preferred accruals-based measure also posted a record surplus of £12.556 billion, an improvement of some £4 billion a year ago.
That was driven by a more than 50 per cent surge in corporation tax receipts on a year ago, owing partly to changes in the timing of inflows from North Sea oil companies that was announced in last year's budget.
The current budget surplus, against which Mr Brown's fiscal golden rule that he may borrow only to invest over the economic cycle is measured, also posted a monthly record of £15.3 billion.