Public sector net borrowing — the difference between spending and tax receipts — stood at £10.7 billion ($13.8 billion) for the month, the Office for National Statistics said in a statement.

With finances strained, the government on Tuesday announced contested cuts to disability welfare payments, hoping to save more than £5 billion annually by the end of the decade.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer followed this up by stating that Britain’s soaring disability costs are “devastating for the public finances”.

At the same time, Labour recently said it would hike spending on defence.

Friday’s data come before finance minister Rachel Reeves’s Spring Statement on Wednesday, when billions of pounds of spending cuts across various government departments are set to be detailed.

However Reeves, whose official title is chancellor of the exchequer, is not expected to break her self-imposed fiscal rule, stating that she will not borrow for day-to-day spending.

The restriction is designed to ensure that the government’s spending plans maintain credibility in financial markets.

Senior Treasury official Darren Jones on Friday said the government was focused on “sound public finances, based on our non-negotiable fiscal rules.

“This government will never play fast and loose with the public finances,” he added in a statement reacting to the latest data.

Alex Kerr, UK economist at Capital Economics research group, said “the significant overshoot in borrowing in February highlights the chancellor’s tight fiscal backdrop”.

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© Agence France-Presse