National Debt

William Hammonds made this Freedom of Information request to HM Treasury This request has been closed to new correspondence. Contact us if you think it should be reopened.

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Dear Her Majesty’s Treasury, Can you tell me if the national debt has increased or decreased during coalition government.

Yours faithfully, William Hammonds

Enquiries, CEU - HMT [Restricted], HM Treasury

Dear Mr Hammonds

Thank you for your Freedom of Information request. I write to confirm receipt of your request and to let you know that it is receiving attention. If you have any enquiries regarding your request do not hesitate to contact us.

Regards
Adeola

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responses, FOI - HMT [Restricted], HM Treasury

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Dear William,

Please find attached our reply to your recent FOI request. For ease of reference, here are clickable versions of the links in the letter:
http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/psa/public...

http://budgetresponsibility.independent....

Kind regards

Nick Dippie | Information Rights Unit
HM Treasury| 2 Blue, 1 Horse Guards Road, SW1A 2HQ 

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Dear Her Majesty’s Treasury, It looks like the deficit is still growing out of control. And you write to tell me that the coalition has only managed to lower the "increase" in borrowing, and not lowered the debt.
So am I correct in assuming that all we have to look forward to is a tiny reduction of around 2% of borrowing in 2017/18 after an increase of 28.1% and during 7/8 years of cuts.
Surely going from borrowing at 53% of gdp to 79% of gdp over 6 years(while enduring cuts), and then only dropping 2% during the next 2 years is bad practice and walking off a financial cliff.
Must I only assume now that the report of there being a 2% drop in 2017/18 would be from a promise to drop the interest rates by the Rothschilds. So to give the conservatives a pathetic carrot to dangle in front of the too busy masses, knowing it will be too late to escape the slavery which is the Rothschild monetary system.
Also I ask you, how can a debt be paid when there is interest charged on it, unless the interest is included in the amount of notes that are printed? Surely when you borrow more than half you earn, there is no return.

Yours faithfully,

William Hammonds

Enquiries, CEU - HMT [Restricted], HM Treasury

Dear Mr Hammond,

Thank you for your e-mail.

I am writing to confirm receipt and to inform you that your enquiry is receiving attention.  We aim to reply to all correspondence within 15 working days of receipt.

Regards,

Lisa Adams 

HM Treasury Enquiries, 2SW, 1 Horse Guards Road, SW1A 2HQ P  Please consider the environment before printing this email.
www.hm-treasury.gov.uk

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Enquiries, CEU - HMT [Restricted], HM Treasury

 

Dear Mr Hammonds  

 

Thank you for your email dated 8 January about Government borrowing.

 

The deficit (surplus) is a flow measure which varies over time and
reflects the negative (positive) gap between public sector expenditure and
revenue. Gross debt is a stock measure that reflects the cumulative impact
of past deficits and surpluses while net debt is gross debt netting off
the public sector’s holdings of liquid financial assets. According to the
independent Office for Budget Responsibility’s December 2012 Economic and
fiscal outlook net debt is forecast to be £1498 billion (79.2 per cent of
GDP) in 2016-17 and £1534 billion (77.3 per cent of GDP) in 2017-18. Hence
net debt will increase by £36 billion but fall by 1.9 per cent of GDP. In
2009-10, net debt was £770 billion (53.1 per cent of GDP). By 2016-17, net
debt is forecast to rise by a further £728 billion (26.1 per cent of GDP).

 

The Coalition Government inherited an exceptional fiscal challenge. The
financial crisis of 2008 and 2009 resulted in the largest deficit since
the Second World War and unsustainable public spending. The state was
borrowing one pound in every four that it spent. The Government took
action and set out a clear, detailed and credible consolidation plan to
tackle this historically high level of public borrowing, ensuring that the
public finances are restored to a sustainable path. As a result, the
Government has made significant progress in reversing the unprecedented
increase in borrowing with the deficit forecasted to fall by £128 billion
(9.6 per cent of GDP) from £159 billion (11.2 per cent of GDP) in 2009-10
to £31 billion (1.6 per cent of GDP) in 2017-18.

 

The government needs to finance its borrowing requirement by issuing
government bonds (gilts). When the government issues a government bond, it
borrows money and agrees to pay a fixed amount of interest, paid as
'coupons'. The coupon rate is paid semi-annually, with the principal of
the bond being repaid on maturity. Therefore both the debt (the principal
of the bond) and the interest (coupon) are paid.

 

Thank you for taking the trouble to make us aware of these concerns.

 

 

 

Lisa Adams  |Correspondence and Information Rights

HM Treasury, 2SW, 1 Horse Guards Road, SW1A 2HQ 

  Please consider the environment before printing this email.

www.hm-treasury.gov.uk

 

 

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Alec Finch left an annotation ()

The obfuscation in the response is unacceptable. Politically; the difference between debt and deficit is cleverly worded in a legal sense and the government avoid the word debt!

How much debt do we really have? Give a figure but you cannot due to the 'Shadow banking system'.

It is within Public's best interest to know and legally exactly how much we are in debt by. Try and answer the question without saying deficit!