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Families have been on a £34 billion borrowing binge to maintain their lifestyles since the Brexit vote, official figures reveal today.

Traditionally, households have been “net lenders” to the economy, but there was a dramatic turnaround in this trend shortly after the June 2016 referendum.

From autumn that year households became “net borrowers”, meaning they had to take out loans or draw on their savings to fund their spending and investments.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics show this has now happened for the sixth consecutive quarter.

The pound slumped in value after the Brexit vote, pushing up prices in shops, for holidays and other spending.

Andrew Wishart, UK economist at Capital Economics, said: “Rather than cutting back on expenditure, households have reduced their savings or increased their borrowing to try to maintain their living standards.”

Dr Howard Archer, chief economic adviser at EY ITEM Club, said the borrowing was caused by a mixture of the devaluation pushing up inflation and a long squeeze on incomes.

Much of the borrowing was by the middle classes maintaining their lifestyles while loans were cheap, rather than families on the breadline. He said: “Sooner or later consumers have to start rebuilding their balance sheets.”

Liberal Democrat Sir Vince Cable said: “This reinforces the warnings many of us have been giving that the economy is only being kept going by household spending based on deepening amounts of debt. This is unsustainable and suggests there will be a rather messy day of reckoning ahead.”

Rob Kent-Smith, of the ONS, said: “Overall, households were borrowers at the beginning of 2018 and for the sixth consecutive quarter, as households continued to face increasing prices, squeezing their budgets.”

The “net borrowing” in the first quarter of 2018 was £5.8 billion, up from £4.8 billion in the previous three months, and taking the total over a year-and-a-half to around £34 billion.

The borrowing is fuelling growth, which was 0.2 per cent in the first quarter of 2018. Other ONS data showed the squeeze on living costs is easing. Real household disposable income in the first quarter rose by 0.3 per cent quarter on quarter, as wages increased at a faster rate than price hikes.