The Government has been accused of losing control of the public finances as official figures showed that borrowing surged by more than £16 billion last month.
The news came as it emerged that Chancellor Alistair Darling had been holding a series of one-to-one meetings with fellow Cabinet ministers to start identifying areas where spending could be cut.
The grim state of the public finances was underlined by the figure for August of £16.1 billion - taking the total for the first five months of the financial year to £63.5 billion.
The Treasury insisted the figures were in line with Mr Darling's Budget forecast of a record £175 billion this year.
"They reflect the impact of the global financial crisis on tax receipts as well as the action we are taking to support the economy right now and invest to benefit from the recovery," said a Treasury spokesman.
However, some City analysts warned that at the current rate, the Government could overshoot the Budget estimate by up to £50 billion.
Tory leader David Cameron said the figures made clear just how much trouble the finances were in.
"We used to worry about borrowing £16 billion in a whole year, but under this Government we're borrowing it in one single month. They have completely lost control of the nation's finances," he said.
He said it was "extraordinary" that Mr Darling had only now begun to discuss spending cuts with Cabinet colleagues.
"What has this Government been doing for the last year?" he said. "Families have been sitting round the kitchen table looking at their budget, businesses have been sitting round the boardroom tables working out how to trim their costs and live within their means. And yet our Government seems to have been entirely asleep on the job."
