£624bn cost of servicing UK debt
MORE than £600bn of taxpayers’ money has been blown servicing the national debt since Britain was last in the black.
The Government has been living beyond its means since 2001 when then-chancellor Gordon Brown embarked on a debtfuelled spending spree.
The 18-year borrowing binge has added nearly £1.5 trillion to the national debt – pushing it up from around £300bn to just shy of £1.8 trillion.
In that time, successive chancellors have blown £624bn of taxpayers’ money servicing the debt through interest payments, according to figures from the Office for Budget Responsibility.
The watchdog expects debt interest payments to rise from £39.8bn this year to £46.8bn in 2023-24. In his Budget speech, Philip Hammond spoke of ‘the nightmare of wasting £50bn a year in interest’.
Critics said the money could have been spent on services such as schools and hospitals.
The numbers show just how costly Britain’s addiction to debt has been. While the deficit has fallen from a record £153.1bn under Labour in 2009-10, it is still set to total £25.5bn this year before dropping slowly to £19.8bn in 2023-24.
Mark Littlewood, director general at the Institute for Economic Affairs, said: ‘It is astounding that public debt in the UK has now risen well into the trillions. These figures make for depressing reading and expose the feeble attempts of governments past and present to grasp hold of the issue and get our public finances under control.
‘Accumulating more and more debt will result in higher taxes for future generations. We need brave and bold policies to ensure fiscal responsibility is restored.’
Ross Campbell, public sector director at the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, said: ‘The public sector finances have performed better than the OBR forecast this year. The Chancellor shouldn’t, however, be complacent as the underlying position remains extremely challenging.
‘The need for continued efficiency and belt tightening in government is not going to go away,’ he said.