09:07

Philip Hammond has taken a “gamble” on the future health of the public finances by using better short-term borrowing figures to raise spending on the NHS, according to Britain’s leading tax and spending thintank.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies warned that the public finances could deteriorate next year, at a time when Britain leaves the EU, which could pose difficult questions for the government after the chancellor increased spending on the health service.

It said there was perhaps a one in three chance that the public finances would deteriorate significantly next year.

Paul Johnson, the director of the IFS, said: