The Treasury was forced to borrow record amounts in the first half of the present financial year as its tax revenues continued to fall far short of Alistair Darling’s plans, plunging the Chancellor’s finances deep into the red.

In figures that emphasised the intense financial strains facing the Treasury, and the Chancellor’s scant room for manoeuvre to fend off looming recession, total government borrowing from April to September soared to £37.6 billion.

The figure was drastically up, by 75 per cent, from the £21.5 billion total for the same period in 2007-08, and was the highest for the first-half of any financial year since 1946.

Net government borrowing for September alone also set a record, at £8.092 billion, almost double the £4.775 billion figure for the same month last year.

The runaway rise in government borrowing leaves Mr Darling no hope of now achieving the £43 billion borrowing total for the full 2008-09 financial year set on in his March Budget.

City economists now expect the Chancellor to be forced to borrow £60 to £70 billion over the full-year, and renewed warning today that borrowing could surge above £100 billion in coming years as a recession undercuts tax receipts and triggers spiralling welfare bills as unemployment climbs.

The public finances could be pushed even deeper into the red in the run-up to the next election after the Treasury signalled at the weekend that it is drawing up plans to bring forward spending from future years in an effort to bolster growth and stave off a severe economic slump.

Today’s figures emphasised how tax revenues are already falling far short of the Treasury’s plans, even before the full force of the economic downturn is felt.

In the first half of the 2008-09 financial year, tax revenues have risen by 2 per cent compared with the same period a year earlier. That rise compares with the Chancellor's forecast for revenues to grow over the full year by 5 per cent.

In one symptom of that weakness, corporation tax payments to the Treasury fell by 8 per cent in September alone, compared with the same month a year earlier.

At the same time, government spending is rising faster than planned in the Budget, growing by 6.1 per cent in the first half of the financial year, against the Chancellor’s full-year forecast for a 5.3 per cent increase.

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