Rishi Sunak has warned “hard choices” will need to be made to tackle record levels of national debt incurred during the coronavirus pandemic, saying the government has a “sacred responsibility” to balance the books for future generations. Using his speech to the Conservative party conference to drop the broadest possible hint that tax rises or spending cuts would be used in response to the Covid-19 crisis, the chancellor suggested the Tories had a moral obligation to cut Britain’s debt pile. “We will protect the public finances. Over the medium term getting our borrowing and debt back under control,” he said. The UK’s public finances are on course for a record peacetime deficit this year, as the government spends billions of pounds protecting businesses and households from the economic fallout of the pandemic. During the first five months of the financial year, the budget deficit – the difference between public spending and income from taxes – has risen to almost £174bn, more than three times the £55.8bn borrowed last year. The UK’s national debt – the sum total of every budget deficit recorded – has risen to more than £2tn – equivalent to about 102% of gross domestic product (GDP), and… Read full this story
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