Latest editorial
Austerity 'leaves Britain further in debt than expected'
Country owes £10.7 billion more than official forecasts suggested thanks to counterproductive Tory policies
George Osborne's “counterproductive” austerity measures have left Britain £10.7 billion further in the red than was expected, official figures showed yesterday.
Underlying public-sector debt was £1.27 trillion for the year to the end of March, ahead of the £1.26trn forecast last month by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).
It meant that the sum owed by the public purse rose more steeply than predicted to 75.8 per cent of GDP, compared to the 74.5 per cent OBR forecast.
More from this author
Colombian national Isabella Acevedo asks to be treated with same leniency as Harper following reshuffle promotion as Disabled People's Minister
Construction workers call for bosses' to stand trial as HSE finds over half of building sites unsafe
Watchdog investigation closes down 13 unsafe building sites, hands 85 enforcement notices and warns 201 others
Similar stories
Exempting military expenditure from austerity while slashing welfare represents a fundamental misallocation of resources that guarantees continued decline, argues MICHAEL BURKE
While slashing welfare and public services, Labour’s spring statement delivers a bonanza for death-dealing bomb merchants. We now see the true and terrible face of austerity 2.0, writes MICHAEL BURKE
In his first of a new monthly economics column MICHAEL BURKE argues that public-sector investment is more effective, more productive than private-sector investment
Comparing Budget measures to fictional Tory plans rather than actual spending levels conceals continued austerity, argues DIANE ABBOTT MP, as workers face stealth tax increases to bear the cost of economic stagnation