UK debt over £1 trillion for the first time

UK public debt has crossed the £1 trillion mark for the first time, with the government borrowing around £14 billion last month even in its austerity drive continued.

Public sector net debt excluding financial interventions, such as bank bail-outs, rose to £1.004 trillion in December, the highest recorded since 1993 when records started being kept.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said it expected the figure to soften in January with tax inflows, but it could be expected to rise again in February.

Meanwhile, according to a treasury spokesman, the figures showed the unsustainable level of spending that had been built up over the past few years, and showed why it was critical for the nation's future that the deficit was  decisively dealt with.

According to Daniel Solomon of the Centre for Economics and Business Research, at least, the government's focus on fiscal prudence resulted in low interest rates on its debt.

He noted that a UK 10-year government bond now had a yield of 2.2 per cent although there were signs that markets did not find the UK's debt reduction policies entirely credible, as the figure had risen over the month.