Quote Originally Posted by JamesWales View Post
I genuinely don’t think there is any party politics here, as all would have done broadly the same.

But in May 2010, we borrowed £13.6bn, so not a huge difference, certainly not 10 fold. From 2008 to 2010 there was a big increase in borrowing, which slowly and successfully (finance wise) was reduced until Covid hit

But yeah, whatever financial benefits were gained from the years of austerity have certainly be lost due to Covid. As a Quiet Monkfish says, thankfully interest rates are very low.

I just find the figures extraordinary really.
Oh come off it.

First, UK austerity is now widely acknowledged to have been a huge own goal and a bust (cf Joe Stiglitz).

This "amazement" at borrowing and debt levels is one of the standard rightwing tropes that emerges from time to time before they slam the poor with austerity claiming it's about controlling public finances. For context, the UK's current GDP is around 3T. In your language that's GBP 3,000,000M. Does 17,400M GBP now seem that big? I think not.

A few other things that seem missing in your picture. The UK economy is not (as Thathcer said) like a household. The National Debt never has to be repaid. That is a crass oft-peddled misunderstanding of the macroeconomy. Debt has to be serviced sustainably to maintain confidence in the currency but the debt can revolve forever. Effectively it means the UK has to cover its interest payments so the ROW is confident it will continue to do so and carry on buying its debt instruments.