Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Indebted Britain

The debt Gordon Brown has saddled his country with deserves to be a top political as well as financial issue, as The Times powerfully argues in a leader today. Gordon Brown has over the last week been on a mission to airbrush Northern Rock out of the national accounts. He has claimed repeatedly—and mendaciously—that he’s taken debt as a share of GDP from 44% to 37%.

The Times in its leader today gets it precisely right. Not only does it use the correct net debt figure – 43.3% in August – but it goes on to lambaste Brown.

“This parlous financial position is a direct political legacy. A government of genuine prudence might have put money in the bank at the top of the cycle to pay for the bills at the bottom. But it would then have been unable to argue that Conservative plans to cut taxes would require cuts in public services.

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