David Cameron claimed today that Gordon Brown will have "borrowed more than all previous governments combined" after the tax cuts and spending boosts expected in this afternoon's Pre-Budget Report.

In an address to the annual conference of the Confederation of British Industry, where he spoke immediately after the Prime Minister, the Conservative leader accused Mr Brown of falsely claiming that Britain's economic woes were all made in America.

And he said the economy did not need a temporary fiscal stimulus that would have to be repaid down the line, but concerted "monetary activitism" to ease the credit crunch and get bansk lending to each other again.

Mr Cameron told delegates: "Both the European Commission and IMF have forecast that Britain will have a more severe recession than any other major economy. Far from being well-prepared for the storms that lie ahead, we’re facing a deeper and longer downturn than any other industrialised nation.

“In terms of how we got here, of course there has been conflux of international events. But to argue – as some do – that this all comes from America is nonsense. Britain enters this recession with the largest budget deficit in the developed world. This is not America’s fault – it’s because no money was ever put aside for a rainy day.

“Britain enters the downturn with the highest level of personal debt in the world. This is not America’s fault – it’s because the Bank of England had its historic ability to call time on the levels of debt in the economy removed.

“And Britain enters the downturn with one of the most unbalanced economies in the world, far too dependent on housing, now in decline, finance, now in crisis, and government spending, now at its limit. That’s not America’s fault - it is the consequence of domestic policy failures."

Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, is expected to announce a temporary fiscal stimulus of between £16 billion and £20 billion to boost consumer spending as recession begins to bite. The main measure will be an immediate 2.5p cut in the rate of VAT, which will cost about £11 billion over the next 13 months.

The Tory leader said that the recession into which Britain is was triggered by the credit crunch and "the most important part of the solution is getting interest rates down and getting credit moving again" - or what he termed "monetary activism".

Mr Cameron pointed out that the recent 1.5-point cut in base rates could have been a 2-point cut had the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee not factored in Mr Darling's planned tax cuts.

He added: “Tomorrow, the headlines from the Pre Budget Report may well shout about tax giveaways. But the real story of this PBR will be our enormous deficit and out-of-control public finances and that’s where we need to learn the long-term lessons.

“The gap between the tax that comes in and the spending that goes out is likely to be almost £80 billion this year. That’s a mind boggling figure – bigger than what we borrowed in the depths of the last recession and this one hasn’t even properly started yet. This will only get worse. Next year, it could be over £100 billion. That would be another £4,000 for every family in Britain.

“Let’s put these figures into some perspective. We’re already paying more on debt interest than we do on schools and transport budgets and after this PBR, Gordon Brown will have borrowed more than all previous governments – combined.

“Let’s be clear about what this really means for us. They might be talking about tax giveaways but everyone knows that they’re throwing money at us now to take it away at a later date. That’s the thing about debt – you’ve got to pay it back sooner or later. And to pay back all this money would mean an eight per cent rise in income tax, or a six per cent rise in VAT, or a corporation tax rate of seventy-one percent.

“This is the real story of today’s PBR. Higher debts in the future. Higher taxes just as the economy starts to grow again. More of the same policies that got us into this mess – when we desperately need a change in direction."

Times Recommends

• He stole my son, now I’m alone in hell
• Back on the air, but don’t mention Mugabe
• Ten kitchen gadget gift ideas