A first-time buyer is hoping Rishi Sunak's budget will help her to get her foot on the property ladder - and out of the tiny Ipswich flat she shares with her boyfriend.

IT support specialist Claire Chambers, 29, of Wherstead Road, lives with boyfriend Daniel Baggott - but says lockdown brought home the inadequacies of their accommodation.

"Before the pandemic I was never really bothered about where I lived as I spent most weekends out with friends, travelling and exploring the countryside," she said.

"Covid-19 made me very aware of how important having a place to call my own is and my tiny flat - that was previously just a place I slept and ate - felt like a prison.

"What was once cosy felt claustrophobic. I'd never thought about how nice it would be to have a garden before - just to have a nice place to sit outside."

She has been trying to build up a nest-egg, and hopes that the government's backing for a 5% mortgage deposit will help her over the line.

"After graduating from university in 2015 with the shadow of my student debts looming over me, I've spent the last five years paying my way out of my student overdrafts and trying to build up the funds for a house deposit.

"Most of my 20s have been spent renting apartments, so the amount that I've been able to save towards it over the years has been dictated by how high my rent was and whether I needed to save for a new security deposit.

"Bringing back 5% mortgages would allow me to get on the property ladder a lot sooner and I could start paying towards my own mortgage rather than someone else's."

Since the pandemic she moved in with her boyfriend into an apartment he owns.

"We are now hoping to buy a house together," she said.

"The 5% mortgages could make that a reality much sooner than we expected and we could finally get that garden."