The public finance deficit widened last month as Chancellor Gordon Brown's investment plans started to kick in, reports Philip Thornton in Saturday's Independent.

Official figures show the Government has borrowed £6.5bn in December from January's £6.2bn and way ahead of independent forecasts of a £4.4bn shortfall.

The figures also showed that the Government's cash requirement reached an all-time record of £14.9bn although the figure is disregarded by City analysts as too volatile.

The driving factor was a surge in net investment to £2.9bn, double the £1.5bn figure for December 2004.  So far this fiscal year, investment has risen by almost 14 per cent.

This rise pushed public sector net borrowing for the year to date to £38.9bn, above the Budget forecast of £37bn with three months of the year to go.

Allan Monks, a UK economist at JP Morgan, said: "It looks likely the Chancellor will over shoot his borrowing projections for the full year."

George Osborne, the shadow Chancellor, said "Gordon Brown's lack of fiscal responsiblity will damage our ability to compete, and mean further tax rises for hard-working families."

The Treasury dismissed the claim, saying that "no sensible measure of the public finances" could be judged on a month-by-month basis.

A spokesman said "OUr forecats are made over a full year and the fiscal rules measures across a full cycle. We remain on track to meet the forecast set out last month, meeting the golden rule with a margin of £16bn."