Tory MP calls for cap on UK national debt
A CONSERVATIVE MP is to propose new legislation that would put a cap on Britain’s national debt.
Sajid Javid, the MP for Bromsgrove, will next month introduce a National Debt Cap Bill under the ten minute rule in the House of Commons.
The bill would cap the amount the government can borrow as percentage of GDP; currently, the figure stands at 60 per cent, although this is expected to peak at 71 per cent in 2014.
Javid said the level at which the cap were set would be a matter for the Treasury, although he said he believed that the national debt should be capped at 40 per cent of GDP.
If such a law were introduced, it would bring Britain in line with America, which has a so-called “debt ceiling” that means Congress must vote to increase the country’s borrowing limit beyond a set level.
President Barack Obama is currently in a race against time to get America’s debt limit raised by $2.4 trillion (£1.5 trillion) by 2 August. If congress does not raise the debt ceiling, America could default on its debt.
Although bills introduced under the ten minute rule rarely become law, they are used by MPs to ensure that certain issues are debated in the Commons.