Research from the Institute for Fiscal Studies shows 17 of 22 leading industrialised countries have improved their budget balances by more than Britain since 1996 and 15 have achieved bigger reductions in government debt.

“After a decade of Mr Brown’s stewardship, the UK still has a relatively big structural budget deficit by international standards and remains mid-table when comparing the size of government debt,” says the independent thinktank.

Brown is spending 22 billion pounds more this year than his predecessor Kenneth Clarke did in 1996-97, but is raising 31 billion pounds more in tax, according to the study.

Brown, who is widely expected to replace Tony Blair as prime minister later this year, has pledged to cut government borrowing by 20 billion pounds over the next five years. To that end, he is projecting a 10 billion pound increase in the tax burden and a 10 billion pound cut in public spending. The IFS says government revenue projections look realistic and does not think Brown will need to announce additional tax raising measures in the near term.

However, it reckons spending cuts may be harder to achieve. The government has pencilled in 7 billion pounds of spending cuts over the three years of the forthcoming Comprehensive Spending Review, with more assumed to follow.

If the Treasury delivers on this, it will be the tightest squeeze on spending since the the Labour government stuck to plans inherited from the Conservatives in its early years in office, according to the IFS. The study estimates the tax burden has risen by 40 billion pounds over the past decade, the equivalent of roughly 1,300 pounds per family.

The Treasury, however, rejected any suggestion that families were worse off, noting income levels had risen faster than tax payments over the period.

—Reuters