Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

What a difference a year makes

The below table shows how we will be paying the costs of Brown’s profligacy for years. In the space of a year, the picture has markedly worsened. This is gross government debt, in the Maastricht definition which ministers can’t tweak.

UK Government gross debt, tables C4 and C5 from Budget 07 & 08

  Debt, £billion Debt, %GDP
  Budget 2007 Budget 2008 Increase Budget 2007 Budget 2008
2006-07 568 574 6 43.5 43.3
2007-08 611 616 5 44.3 43.8
2008-09 644 679 35 44.4 46.1
2009-10 679 728 49 44.5 46.9
2010-11 712 771 59 44.4 47.2
2011-12 744 809 65 44.1 47.0

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