Taxpayers’ Alliance online Debt Clock re-launched – and it’s scarier than ever
The TaxPayers’ Alliance has this morning re-launched its online Debt Clock. Although there is a welcome economic recovery, our Debt Clock offers a stark reminder of the urgency of Britain’s national debt crisis, and the need for politicians to wage a war on waste to get spending under control.
· The Debt Clock can be found online at www.debt-clock.org
· The Debt Clock will also send out tweets on the hour, every hour via @ukdebtclock
The national debt continues to rise at a startling rate:
· £4,344 per second
· £260,654 per minute
· £15,639,269 per hour
· £375,342,466 per day
The national debt is the total amount of money the UK Government currently owes. This is different to the annual national deficit, which is the amount of money the UK Government spends in excess of income. Each year we run a deficit, the national debt grows. Britain has been running a national deficit for the past 14 years.
It’s not merely the huge scale of the national debt that is a cause for concern, but also the rate at which it is increasing. The national debt will rise by £137bn this year alone, and by 2016-17 it will hit a total of £1.5tn.
To put this frightening borrowing into context, the rate of increase in the national debt would have:
· Paid for the London 2012 Olympic Games in just over three weeks
· Covered the cost of the Scottish Parliament building in little more than a day
· Ensured the entire Transport budget was settled in nine weeks
· Funded the construction of 183 Wembley Stadiums this year
· More than covered the entire NHS budget this year
Jonathan Isaby, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “The deficit may be coming down but we shouldn’t let that distract us from the rapidly increasing national debt. Somebody has to pay these bills, and that means this terrifying debt burden will fall on the shoulders of future generations of taxpayers. Politicians must get serious and wage a war on waste, instead of borrowing from our children and grandchildren to pay for things we can’t afford today.”
