A new lifesaving helicopter which would have room for the parent of an injured child will come to Norwich, the Chancellor will announce today when he is expected to hand £1.7m of banking fines to the East Anglian Air Ambulance.

In a highly political budget just weeks before voters go to the polls, George Osborne will say that the Norwich-based charity's bid for cash to provide a spacious and longer range aircraft has been successful, and the £70,000 a month needed for the lease will be provided for two years from the money collected from Libor rigging penalties.

The East Anglian Air Ambulance announced earlier this year that it will use £250,000, already awarded from the fines imposed on banks that had rigged interest rates, to train more 40 more paramedics.

The life-saving charity, which has bases in Norwich and Cambridge, ordered a the new model - the EC135 - four years ago, and it will come into service in Cambridge on April 1, and will be flown by Prince William.

The bid to be announced today will help fund a second upgrade to be based in Norwich. It is understood that the order could be placed within the next month, with the helicopter in operation in January 2016.

Norwich MP Chloe Smith said: 'Everybody will be delighted to have won the funding. It will mean a lot to be able to run that new helicopter. It will be very well received because it is such a well-loved local charity.'

The money will only cover the extra cost of the lease for the newer model for two years, but will give the charity a chance to build up a further fundraising ability.

Essex & Herts Air Ambulance Trust will also get a grant of £1.5m towards a new leased aircraft in May 2017, when the current aircraft leasing contract will expire.

The EC145T2 helicopter can fly over a longer range, and also has the capacity for extra crew members.

The Chancellor will announce in the Budget that the funding would 'provide the delta between the current lease costs and the new costs for the improved helicopter over a two year period'.

An East Anglian Air Ambulance Spokesman said they had put in a bid, and they were waiting to hear what came out of the budget.