Britain’s trade deficit surged to a new peak of £6bn in November, official data showed yesterday, as imports hit a record and the country suffered its fifth monthly oil deficit in a row – the worst performance since North Sea oil came onstream.

The Office for National Statistics reported a goods trade shortfall of £5.97bn for November, over £1bn worse than the City had expected and the worst figure since records began in 1697.

The ONS also revised up its estimate of the October deficit by £500m to £5.1bn.