City stunned as borrowing soars to a record £23 billion

The UK's fragile public finances reeled under a shock blow as borrowing in November surged to an all-time high of £23.3 billion.

The rise, which the Office for National Statistics put down to higher European Union payouts as well as increased health and defence spending, immediately raised doubts over whether the Government would hit its full-year borrowing target of £148.5 billion.

The figure, £5.9 billion ahead of last year, stunned City forecasters, who were expecting borrowing of just £17 billion for the month.

The UK's credit-card bill has now rocketed past the £100 million mark after eight months of the financial year so far to reach £104.4 million, almost on a par with last year.

The UK is spending £700 million extra on the EU against a year earlier — despite Prime Minister David Cameron's pleas for Budget restraint — as well as £900 million more on health and £400 million extra on defence, the figures show.

Government spending is running more than 10% ahead of a year earlier at £53.9 billion while receipts are lagging behind at £36.7 billion.

Andrew Goodwin, the Ernst & Young ITEM Club's senior economic adviser, warned: "This will provide more fuel for the sceptics who question whether the Government can really achieve the scale of public spending cuts that it plans.