The debt monster

Just after last year’s general election, George Osborne delivered a budget that he hailed as proof that his policies were working. ‘The British economy I report on today is fundamentally stronger than it was five years ago,’ he crowed, as he started to detail the record number of jobs created and a growth rate that had accelerated past our neighbours. ‘Our long-term economic plan is working. But the greatest mistake this country could make would be to think all our problems are solved.’

As it turns out, this final sentence summed things up the best. There was growth but a whole lot of debt as well. The national debt today stands at £1,580 billion, some 50 per cent more than the Chancellor inherited. He was correct that we were growing faster than our rivals, even if, given the dire state of their economies, that was not much of a claim. Osborne was right too that lots of new jobs had been created — but at the expense of salaries which remained stagnant.