A man from Ipswich has reportedly single-handedly lifted the United Kingdom’s economic prospects after locating a forgotten £10 note down the side of his sofa, sources who had already briefed every major broadcaster confirmed this morning.

The landmark discovery was made at approximately 7.14pm on Tuesday, shortly before the man, identified only as Darren, 43, attempted to retrieve a TV remote and came away with what Treasury officials are calling “a clear vote of confidence in the British economy”.

Within minutes, the phrase g7 economic growth uk soars after man finds tenner in sofa was understood to be circulating in the more excitable corners of Westminster, where ministers have spent several years waiting for a growth plan that did not involve announcing another growth plan in a room full of hard hats.

“It was wedged behind a Werther’s Original and what may once have been a blackcurrant,” Darren told reporters gathered outside his semi-detached home. “At first I thought, lovely, that’s a meal deal. Then I was informed I had restored national confidence.”

G7 economic growth as sofa discovery shocks markets

The pound briefly rose against the euro, the dollar and one of those decorative wooden signs that says ‘Gin O’Clock’ after news of the tenner reached the City. Traders reportedly paused their usual activity of staring at four screens of coloured lines to ask whether Darren might have another sofa.

An emergency meeting of G7 finance ministers was convened, although the French representative was said to have joined 18 minutes late after being unable to find the correct video link. The group agreed that the UK’s recovery had been “unexpectedly upholstered”, and asked for more information about the condition of the cushions.

The Bank of England issued a statement describing the find as “materially significant, depending on whether it is spent at once or placed in a jar labelled holiday”. It also cautioned households against looking behind every piece of furniture simultaneously, warning that a sudden flood of loose change could overheat the economy and make the 50p in the cup holder of a Nissan Qashqai feel ideas above its station.

Darren, who works in procurement and has not asked to be made Chancellor, said the money would probably go towards a Chinese takeaway on Friday. Economists immediately revised their forecasts to account for a possible increase in prawn cracker activity across East Anglia.

Professor Clive Moneypenny, of the Institute for Things People Say on Breakfast Television, explained the mechanics. “A tenner found in a sofa is not merely a tenner. It is a tenner that had previously been assumed not to exist. That is the purest form of economic growth, apart from finding a fiver in your winter coat just before going to the pub.”

Treasury hails the ‘cushion dividend’

Downing Street was quick to insist that the discovery vindicated its long-term economic strategy, which it described as “waiting patiently for Darren to have a tidy-up”. A spokesman said the government had always believed in Britain’s potential, especially the potential concealed beneath a throw purchased from Dunelm in 2016.

“We are backing working people, sofa people and indeed people who own a chair with a suspiciously deep gap at the side,” he said. “This government will not rest until every household has checked under the armrests.”

When asked whether the £10 had been costed, the spokesman said it had been fully funded by “the previous occupants of the living room”. He then declined to answer 14 further questions, including whether Darren’s old parking receipts would be treated as national debt.

Opposition parties claimed the administration was taking credit for an event that happened entirely by accident, which was dismissed by ministers as a breathtakingly cynical attack on the soft furnishings sector. One senior MP said the country should be grateful that the note had not been found during the last government, “as they would only have spent it on a focus group about biscuits”.

In Suffolk, the response was predictably practical. A woman in Stowmarket said she had once found £2.37 under a recliner but did not notify the Office for National Statistics because she “had washing to put out”. A man from Woodbridge maintained that a full audit of his shed could reveal enough loose hardware to move the construction sector into positive territory.

A nation searches beneath the cushions

By Wednesday morning, households across Britain had begun a coordinated search beneath sofas, beds and the passenger seats of family cars. The operation has already uncovered three expired loyalty cards, 46 hair grips, a surprising number of AA batteries and a pound coin last seen during the coalition government.

Retailers reported a sharp rise in the sale of torch batteries, rubber gloves and those long grabby sticks normally bought by people who have dropped a biscuit behind the radiator but refuse to accept defeat. One national chain said it had run out of “miscellaneous storage baskets” before lunchtime.

There have, however, been setbacks. A couple in Bury St Edmunds found £20 under their sofa, but then remembered it was money they had put there for emergencies, creating what analysts termed “a neutral outcome with emotional complications”. Meanwhile, a Norwich man unearthed 83p and a dead spider, causing regional productivity to fall back slightly.

The International Monetary Fund has urged calm. Its economists warned that the sofa-based recovery may prove uneven, with households owning leather corner units likely to benefit more than renters with one slightly hostile futon from Facebook Marketplace.

“That is the danger,” said Professor Moneypenny. “Growth can be concentrated among those with the confidence to investigate the darker regions of their own furniture. We must ensure that nobody is left behind the chaise longue.”

Can a tenner really fix Britain?

Not quite, according to people who have somehow managed to retain a sense of proportion. A £10 note cannot repair public services, lower food bills, build homes, train nurses or prevent a council from spending six months consulting on the colour of a cycle-lane bollard.

But it can produce a small, immediate and deeply British sense that life has briefly become less annoying. That matters more than the experts might admit. The difference between having £10 and thinking you do not have £10 is, at minimum, two pints in a reasonably optimistic pub, one reluctant cinema popcorn, or a contribution towards the weekly shop that will disappear before the cashier has finished asking whether you have a loyalty card.

Darren says he is trying to remain grounded. “I don’t want all this attention,” he said, standing beside the sofa that has changed the fiscal landscape. “I just wanted the remote. And possibly the other £10, because I’m almost certain there was another one.”

At the time of publication, officials had placed the living room under informal observation, while the G7 prepared a joint communiqué urging citizens to check inside coat pockets, kitchen drawers and the little compartment under the stairs containing six cables for devices nobody owns.

For anyone hoping to do their bit for the recovery, the guidance is straightforward: have a careful look down the side of the sofa before payday. You may not save the nation, but you could at least afford chips.

Meanwhile: Norfolk man claims he gets petrol at the same price as last year