Prime minister Gordon Brown will be told by the European Commission to take more action to reduce Britain's soaring debt burden, according to early drafts of Brussels' latest assessment of the UK's finances.

The European Commission reports comes just a week before the pre-election Budget, which will be dominated by the size of the UK's debts and how they are going to be cut.

"The overall conclusion is that the fiscal strategy in the convergence programme is not sufficiently ambitious and needs to be significantly reinforced. A credible timeframe for restoring public finances to a sustainable position requires additional fiscal tightening measures beyond those currently planned," the Commission says.

Its main concern is official growth forecasts, which may be too optimistic, while it also highlights the size of the UK government's support to the banks.

Kate Barker, a member of the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee, indicated some doubts over the strength of the UK economy in an interview over the weekend.

"It is possible we will have a quarter when GDP falls, but I don't think it will be a double dip. I would be surprised if we go back to recession but I think recovery will be bumpy and fragile," Barker said in an interview with the Western Morning News.

The government has promised to halve the current £178bn annual deficit over four years.

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