A view on the current UK debt levels, that is money that will mostly be paid back using our taxes.
A report from the Centre for Policy Studies gives the total UK debt as £2,350 billion, some 60% more than the UK’s annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
WThe UK debt consists of:
- Private Finance Initiative (PFI)
- unfunded public sector pension liabilities
- Network rail debt
- the Bradford & Bingley nationalisation
- £500 billion from the bank bail out
But it is not just the debt, it is the interest that is added on to the repayments.
A report from the Welsh Assembly shows that a building project which cost £66 million will actually cost the tax payers £326 million, the interest charges over the years will make total project cost FIVE times the amount spent to build the hospital. On this basis the £200 billion PFI debt will cost the UK £1000 billion to clear these debts!
The government use a definition of the UK debt level which does not include any of the above costs. So when you hear the quote ‘the UK has low debt’ then, as far as I am concerned, you are meing deliberately misled!
