Britain's Debt And Deficit Under Labour And Conservative

[Gromit]

Interesting graphic in The Guardian...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/budget/9932748/Budget-2013-Britains-debt-and-deficit.html

Anyone else thought the current position was that the line was flatter or even going down?

[Gromit]

Whoops, it in the Telegraph.

[AB Editor]

Does it say where they got those figures from? Because if it is from those quoted in the budget each year then I wouldn't necessarily be inclined to take it without salt.

[factor-fiction]

It's not clear from the data on its own what is happening.
Net debt as % of GDP has increased rapidly in recent years, although we can't blame George Osborne for all of it as the 2010 figures would have reflected commitments already but in place by the previous chancellor.
But the second chart shows the UK budget deficit has fallen significantly under Osborne.

[Kromovaracun]

Just as an aside, in 2011 Paul Krugman also produced this graph showing the history of British debt as a proportion of GDP using data from the IMF:

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/04/british-debt-history/

It's incredibly frustrating how Osborne and his followers have effectively forbidden any real discussion about the necessity (or even just timing) of austerity measures by essentially just shouting the same lines over and over again.

[ichkeria]

Not me. There was a histogram on Newsnight last night which showed the mounting debt.
Interestingly, in a debate on the programme between the FT's managing editor, an investment banker, a university economist (the left wing interest) and a carpet saleswoman, when Paxman asked: "to any of you think Osborne is doing any good at all?" ... embarrassing silence.

[jake-the-peg]

Little naughty that graph - assigns 2010 as coalition whereas as we know it's very nearly 50:50

[Kromovaracun]

Ab Editor: In the bottom left of the graph, it cites ONS as the source.

[Zeuhl]

I particularly like this reader's comment;

/This shows that, as that dangerous Marxist the governor of the Bank of England keeps saying, the deficit and the debt ballooned as a result of the recession, which caused tax revenues to collapse. The contribution made by sight over revving of spending by Brown was tiny.

But you'll never bamboozle the right wing zealots with facts. They want to believe its all down to excessive spending by Brown and they always will believe it. Much like Tea Partiers, they have access to a higher truth than facts/