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| Gord goes for broke |
By Jamie Lyons, Deputy Political Editor
BRITAIN’S debt is rocketing by almost £2,000 A SECOND.
Gordon Brown will be forced to admit his borrowing has effectively saddled every family in the country with a £70,000 second mortgage.
Writing exclusively in the News of the World Tory leader David Cameron said: “This government has maxed out our nation’s credit card – and they want to keep on spending by getting another.”
The Prime Minister and Chancellor will set out the shocking state of the nation’s coffers in their Pre-Budget Report pencilled in for November 19.
Treasury figures seen by the News of the World show:
:: Britain’s gross debt is forecast to be at least £679 BILLION by April
:: Debt is going up by £1,960 EVERY SECOND
:: Every family will be saddled with the equivalent of another £70,000 mortgage once the government’s pension liabilty, public finance initiative spending and bank bail-outs are taken into account.
The Treasury’s own figures show debt will have soared by £63 billion in the last year alone - over a billion a week.
And it has spiralled by a staggering £278 billion since Labour came to power.
The figures could be even worse that the Treasury predicts because the government will have to massively revise its borrowing forecasts.
Alistair Darling had precited he would borrown £43billion this year. But he borrowed £37.6 billion in just the first six months.
That is the highest amount since the Second World War.
And the buck will eventually have to stop with the taxpayer because the massive government borrowing will have to be paid off one day.
There is a massive hole in the public finances because of a slump in tax receipts. That is mainly due to the collapse of the housing market and downturn in financial services.
On top of that there has been unexpectedly high spending on social security and new tax credits.
Unlike in other countries - like France and Ireland - Brown is refusing to reign in government spending.
In fact Darling last month revealed he would boost spending to help the country out of recession.
He said he would borrow billions more in a bid to help struggling home-owners and protect jobs.
Brown and Darling wants to prop up the crumbling economy by splurging on massive government projects including energy, housing and small businesses.
The Treasury is fast-tracking building projects like schools, hospitals, social housing and leisure centres.
It will leave whoever wins the next election with a massive financial headache and could even hamper recovery of the economy.
The PM has himself admitted what economic experts have been saying for months - that Britain is heading for recession.
But despite the terrifying levels of debt the PM is now planning to slash tax.
He wants to use the PBR to bring in a raft of cuts such as extending the £2.7 billion of tax breaks to compensate low-paid workers hit by the disastrous decision to axe the 10p tax rate.
Mark Wallace of the Taxpayers’ Alliance fumed: “The government is writing massive IOUs from all or us and public debt is going through the roof.
“Millions of families who are worried about their own mortgages are being landed with a second mortgage because of the government’s over-spending.”
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