Thanks Gordon (2)

Thanks to Gordon Brown, the UK was poorly prepared, and debt has soared

• The UK entered the downturn with one of the largest deficits. The UK had the second largest structural deficit in the G7 in 2007 (IMF, World Economic Outlook database), and the sixth out of the twenty six members of the OECD (OECD Economic Outlook 86).

• The UK faces the largest budget deficit in the OECD and G20. According to the OECD, in 2009 the UK has the largest budget deficit as a proportion of GDP in the group in 2010 at 13.3 per cent. (OECD, Economic Outlook 86). According to the IMF, the UK has the largest deficit in the G20, at 11 per cent of GDP in 2009 (IMF, Global Economic Policies and Prospects).

• The national debt is predicted to double again to £1.5 trillion in the five years from 2008-9 to 2014-15. Public Sector Net Debt is predicted to more than double from £609.1 billion in 2008-09 to £1473 billion in 2014-15 (PBR 2009, Table B13).

• This is the highest level of debt as a proportion of GDP since the war. The Government is predicted to borrow £178 billion in 2009-10, or more than 12 per cent of GDP – the worst since the war (PBR 2009). In 2013-14, the national debt as a proportion of GDP will reach 76 per cent – the highest since the war (leaked Treasury documents).

• Debt interest in the UK will cost each taxpayer £2,000. Table 12 of the leaked Treasury documents, published in September 2009 by the Conservatives, reveals that in 2013-14, the cost of debt interest will be £63.7 billion. This works out at £2,144 for every taxpayer, equivalent to £41 per week. The increase in debt
interest over the next four years means taxpayers will pay an additional £1,228, this works out an additional £24 per week to pay for Labour’s debt crisis.

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