Now British debt hits £1.6trillion (that’s £64,000 for every family)

BRITAIN’S national debt is the eighth highest in the EU – and is worth £64,000 per household.

The country owes £ 1.6trillion – £1,600,000,000,000 – which is 88.5 per cent of national income despite years of austerity.

A report from the EU statistics agency Eurostat found only seven other countries in a worse state than Britain – including basket cases such as Greece and Cyprus.

Critics described the debt mountain racked up by successive British governments as a ‘ticking time-bomb’ and said it would be ‘immoral’ to hand the problem over to the next generation.

The figures highlight the scale of the task facing George Osborne as he battles to bring Britain’s debt under control.

The Chancellor this week ordered Whitehall departments to draw up plans to slash up to 40 per cent from their budgets as he looks for savings of £20billion by 2020.

He said the further savings – which follow the £12billion of welfare cuts and nearly £6billion of tax rises announced in the Budget – will complete the Tories’ plan to return Britain to the black.

A Treasury spokesman said: ‘The job is not done. That is why we will continue to work through our long-term plan to achieve a budget surplus in normal times and secure a better economic future for working people.’

The figures from Eurostat showed Greece is the most indebted country, with debts worth 168.8 per cent of national income.

Italy is second at 135.1 per cent, followed by Portugal at 129.6 per cent, Belgium at 111 per cent, Cyprus at 106.8 per cent, Spain at 98 per cent and France at 97.5 per cent.

Britain comes next, although its debt has fallen from 89.3 per cent at the end of 2014.

Jonathan Isaby, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: ‘These stunning figures show the Chancellor is right to push on with spending reductions, or the consequences could be disastrous. It would be immoral for today’s politicians to hand over this ticking time-bomb to the next generation.’

Eurostat’s figures are higher than those from Britain’s Office for National Statistics because of different accounting methods. The ONS puts the national debt at £1.51trillion, or 81.5 per cent of national income.

But the TaxPayers’ Alliance says that when the cost of public- sector pensions and private finance initiatives is included, it is £8.6trillion, or £320,000 per household.