Alistair Darling has admitted that Britain is “far from through” the recession and hinted that the Government is preparing to ditch its forecast for a recovery in the second half of this year.

In remarks made to the Financial Times, Mr Darling suggested that the Treasury’s most recent assessment of the economy, made at the Pre-Budget Report in November, may have been overly optimistic and might need to be revised at the spring budget.

At the time, Mr Darling suggested that the UK economy would be, by now, half way through a recession and would begin to see recovery in the second half of 2009.

The Chancellor also said in November that GDP would return to growth of between 1.5 per cent and 2 per cent in 2010.

Today, however, Mr Darling said those predictions had been based “on the evidence we had at the time”, adding: “This year is going to be difficult. There are going to be some tough calls.”

“In the current climate, no responsible finance minister could say that’s the job done, far from it. We are far from through this.”

His comments emerged ahead of the Bank of England's interest rate decision tomorrow when it is widely expected to slash borrowing costs by between 0.5 per cent and 1 per cent to their lowest level in history.

The Chancellor also said he was examining fresh measures designed to stimulate the UK economy, including steps to support bank lending to businesses. A package of measures is due to be announced over the next few weeks.

Mr Darling is also this week expected to call for tough new global financial regulations ahead of a G20 summit to be held in London in April.

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