The Chancellor’s Budget spending plans could see Boris Johnson borrow more cash than Tony Blair did during his decade in power, according to a report.

And Whitehall spending under the Conservatives, a party famed for being tight on the purse strings, could be set to rise to as much as £1 trillion pounds for the first time by 2023-24, say economic analysts.

The Resolution Foundation’s ‘The trillion pound question’ report claims new Chancellor Rishi Sunak will use his Budget on March 11, the first since the general election produced a Tory landslide, to boost spending.

And the think tank, run by Torsten Bell, a former adviser to Ed Miliband when he was Labour leader, said the money for extra spending was likely to require tax hikes.

According to the Foundation’s report, total Government expenditure is set to rise at the Budget to 40 per cent of Gross Domestic Product, a figure higher than at any point during New Labour’s reign under Tony Blair.

The scheduled spending increase, which includes up to £100 billion of extra capital spending and the fastest increase in day-to-day departmental spending since the early 2000s, would lift the Government’s total managed annual expenditure above £1 trillion within four years, it estimated.

Borrowing is also likely to rise at next month’s Budget, the report authors said, increasing from £41 billion in 2018-19 to £64 billion by 2021-22.

Resolution Foundation economist Jack Leslie said: “The Chancellor’s big-spending plans to ‘level up’ the country through infrastructure projects will lead to a bigger state than at any point under Tony Blair, and marks a big shift for a traditionally small state Conservative Party.

“But new roads and rail lines are only part of the story for a government wishing to turn the corner on a decade of austerity.

“If the Chancellor wants to increase spending on public services in a fiscally responsible way he will have to change another of his party’s traditional priorities - lower taxes. Higher spending will require higher taxes.”