Our national debt is a crisis but at least we got a good dance track out of it Economics Monday 24 November 2008, and MPs are gripped by one of the most consequential parliamentary debates of the past 30 years. As Chancellor, the late Alistair Darling had just told the House that his pre-Budget statement was being “made against a background of economic uncertainty not seen for generations” and that they had gathered in [...]
UK debt ‘hits £3 trillion’ milestone Economics The size of the UK’s national debt has now risen above £3 trillion, analysis has suggested, reflecting the burden facing taxpayers across the country. A tracker by a rightwing campaign group and think tank has suggested that national debt had reached the long-awaited milestone after an explosion in spending since 2020. The Taxpayers’ Alliance based [...]
Andy Burnham is on course to rack up the second highest debt interest bill on record Opinion Britain’s national debt has reached £3 trillion. We can’t go on like this, says Anne Strickland Andy Burnham has been Prime Minister for just over a fortnight and in that time, Britain’s national debt crossed the unimaginable £3 trillion mark, according to the Taxpayers’ Alliance Debt Clock. It took us 11 years to go from [...]
Graduates are the canary in the coalmine for a failing welfare system April 7, 2026 The welfare state is a Ponzi scheme that’s dependent on an ever shrinking cohort of taxpayers, says Anne Strickland Discussion about student loan unfairness has dominated the headlines over the last month, after a freeze in the repayment thresholds led to a backlash about the student loan system in general. With fiscal drag pulling more [...]
The student loan book is disguising the real size of the national debt April 1, 2026 The market value of the student loan book is approximately £33bn lower than official government accounts suggest. As a result, our national debt is higher than we’re being told – disguised by billions in loans that are much less valuable than they appear, says Sebastian Charleton Britain’s young are the most educated generation in our [...]
Andrew Bailey sets Donald Trump challenge on tariff plans July 16, 2025 Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey has set President Donald Trump a “constructive challenge” to explain contradictions in fiscal policies that threaten the world economy and financial stability. In his Mansion House speech delivered to an audience of City leaders, Andrew Bailey defended the principles of free trade and post-war agreements to introduce multilateral systems [...]
French budget crisis show fiscal fears are rising back up the agenda December 3, 2024 The mounting budget crisis in France looks set to revive the spectre of sovereign debt levels.
National debt: Government must reform or things will ‘blow up’ September 12, 2024 Sooner or later the British government is going to face a reckoning on the national debt.
OBR warns national debt is on ‘unsustainable path’ unless government takes action September 12, 2024 The OBR forecast that government spending would rise to 60 per cent of GDP, from 45 per cent at the moment, whereas revenue will remain flat.