Debt levels were worse after the war

At the end of World War 2 Britain’s national debt was two and a half times more than its national income. No one during the War said: “We can’t afford all this borrowing. We need to surrender”. It took 61 years to pay off this debt. In June 2020 our national debt was just above our national income, and yet already I hear politicians, mainly Conservatives, saying: “We can’t go on borrowing like this. It’s unaffordable”.

We will have to reduce this debt eventually but, for now, with interest rates near zero and unlikely to rise in the near future, the cost of this debt is very manageable for the UK.

After World War 2 the Labour Government embarked upon a massive housebuilding programme and established the NHS, and Britain began a 25-year period of prosperity. We need to learn from history. The Government should borrow to keep the economy going and to prevent thousands of people from becoming destitute until this pandemic is brought under control. It then should borrow to invest in green infrastructure projects, so that new jobs are created and we can grow our way out of recession and eventually reduce the debt. We have had a national debt since the 1700s and it’s unlikely ever to be paid off in full.

If we return to “austerity politics” we will greatly impoverish ourselves and the generations that follow us. Borrowing to invest makes economic sense. We are now in a war against the Corona virus. To quote Mr Sunak we have to do, “Whatever it takes”.

Frank Fay, Loughborough