The Taxpayers’ Alliance estimates that national debt has surged past £3 trillion for the first time, leading to a political blame game.
John Healey is under pressure to protect the nation’s finances (Image: Getty)
Labour is battling a growing debt crisis as the UK is borrowing £4,000 every second, alarming new analysis has revealed.
The Taxpayers’ Alliance estimates that national debt has surged past £3 trillion for the first time, leading to a political blame game.
And ministers are being accused of repeatedly “tapping the nation’s credit card” to pay for their “out of control spending”.
Labour is effectively borrowing £369m a day, according to the think thank, with the Government borrowing £2.7bn more than expected in the first three months of this year.
The £3trn 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 £130billion this year.
John O’Connell, chief executive of the Taxpayers’ Alliance, said the national debt was “out of control” and urged Mr Healey and Andy Burnham, the Prime Minister, 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.”
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) in March suggested that national debt would hit £3 trn in September.
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 £1tn, a threshold it crossed in February 2010.
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.”