Get the facts on debt and deficit

7 March 2024

Government borrowing is not forecast to increase year on year

Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves claimed that government borrowing “goes up in every year” of the OBR’s latest forecast published this week.

9 February 2024

Underlying debt is forecast to be higher in five years’ time than it is currently

An exchange between chief secretary to the Treasury Laura Trott and Radio 4 presenter Evan Davis has gone viral after confusion over debt projections.

24 November 2023

Debt is only projected to begin falling in the latter half of the decade

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s claim that the government is “delivering” on the pledge to get debt falling is only correct when looking at longer-term projections.

26 September 2022

The deficit is lower than it was 12 years ago

Labour shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said in a speech that the Conservative government had not got the deficit down during 12 years in power. This isn’t true.

17 February 2022

More older people have financial debt—but fewer are actually struggling

An article in the Express used accurate figures from Labour showing more pensioners are in debt, but that doesn’t mean that more pensioners have a debt problem.

6 July 2020

This is what we know about the government loan to pay slave owners compensation after slavery was abolished in 1833

This amounted to £20 million, or 40% of government spending that year.

11 December 2019

What has happened to the debt and deficit now and under previous governments?

This article is part of our Ask Full Fact series on the 2019 general election, answering your questions about the election, from claims the main parties are making to what happens on polling day.

4 October 2019

This quote attributed to Boris Johnson is not real

Boris Johnson did not say "we have wiped out the national debt". He did say the Conservatives had tackled the debt and deficit.

12 August 2019

What is the UK’s public debt?

In May 2010, when the Conservative-led coalition came to power, the national debt was £1.03 trillion. As of March 2019 it had risen to £1.80 trillion.

2 November 2018

BBC Question Time: Recap and Factcheck

Question Time on 1 November came from Clacton-on-Sea. Topics covered included income tax changes, austerity, early elections, policing priorities, and the impact of the investigation into Arron Banks.

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Debt and deficit

Government borrowing is not forecast to increase year on year

Underlying debt is forecast to be higher in five years’ time than it is currently

Debt is only projected to begin falling in the latter half of the decade

The deficit is lower than it was 12 years ago

More older people have financial debt—but fewer are actually struggling

This is what we know about the government loan to pay slave owners compensation after slavery was abolished in 1833

What has happened to the debt and deficit now and under previous governments?

This quote attributed to Boris Johnson is not real

What is the UK’s public debt?

BBC Question Time: Recap and Factcheck

Full Fact fights bad information