The UK is borrowing £4,000 every second as national debt surges past £3 trillion for the first time, according to new analysis by the Taxpayers' Alliance. The think tank estimates that Labour is effectively borrowing £369 million a day, with the Government borrowing £2.7 billion more than expected in the first three months of this year.
Debt reaches record levels
The £3 trillion total equates to more than £100,000 for every household in the UK and represents around 95 per cent of GDP. The cost of servicing the national debt is projected to exceed £130 billion this year.
John O'Connell, chief executive of the Taxpayers' Alliance, said the national debt was "out of control" and urged Chancellor John Healey and Prime Minister Andy Burnham to rein in spending. He said: "If Andy Burnham is serious about ushering in a new economic model, he should do it without creating a bigger bill for our children and grandchildren to pay off."
Political blame game
Shadow Chancellor Sir Mel Stride blamed Labour's "out-of-control" spending. He added: "They keep tapping the nation's credit card while the bailiffs are at the door. It is ordinary families, their children and grandchildren, who are left to cover the bill."
However, Robert Jenrick of Reform UK said the Tories also bore a share of the blame. "Successive Tory and Labour chancellors have maxed out the nation's credit card. Thanks to their mismanagement, we now spend more money servicing our debt than on education and defence combined," he said.
It took more than 300 years for Britain's national debt to rise above £1 trillion, a threshold it crossed in February 2010. The Office for Budget Responsibility in March suggested that national debt would hit £3 trillion in September.
A Treasury spokesman said: "Fiscal discipline is the bedrock of economic stability and national security. The Chancellor and Prime Minister are in lockstep that the Government will meet the fiscal rules."
