Brown insists his borrowing target adds up

Gordon Brown today insisted he was not about to break his economic rules.

City experts have warned of a ?10 billion black hole in Treasury figures because income has not kept pace with Labour's public-spending splurge.

There is speculation the Chancellor may flout his promise not to borrow more than the Government gets in tax receipts over the economic cycle.

But speaking today, Mr Brown said his pre-Budget report this week would show he had met his golden rule. "I have always said... we are meeting our fiscal rules and you will see on Thursday what our position is," he said.

The Chancellor will also announce that motorists will be spared a planned rise in fuel tax. He will say that a 1.92p per litre rise unveiled in the last Budget has been scrapped.

Mr Brown announced in the last Budget that a litre of ultra-low-sulphur petrol would go up, but delayed implementation until September. But in July, amid rumblings from farmers and hauliers, he said the rise would be reconsidered in the pre-Budget report.

Some economists say he made a mistake announcing a delay, as it gave opponents a chance to block the move.

The Chancellor now believes that it will be politically unacceptable to raise fuel duty during a world rise in oil prices. With the next Budget likely just before the general election, any rise has been delayed until at least next November. The move will cost the Treasury about ?750 million.

Ministers were determined not to give the fuel tax protesters any excuse to cause disruption in the run-up to the next election. Although Downing Street believes that it now has powers to break any repeat of the fuel blockade of 2000, it did not want to risk a confrontation.