[ad_1]
Chancellor Rishi Sunak today warned of cuts that will come as UK debt hits a new record of over £ 2 trillion.
Net public sector debt reached £ 2.08 trillion at the end of October. That’s also 100.8% of GDP, a proportion that hasn’t been seen since the early 1960s.
The Conservative chancellor said splurging billions on the coronavirus response was the right thing to do, but warned of a reckoning to come.
Mr Sunak said: “We have provided over £ 200 billion of support to protect the economy, lives and livelihoods from the significant and far-reaching impacts of the coronavirus.
“This is what must be done responsibly, but it is also clear that over time it is right for us to make sure that public finances are on a sustainable path.”
(Image: Getty Images)
It comes as up to 5 million public sector workers face a pay freeze or cap in 2021/22, which is expected to be announced in the Chancellor’s spending review next Wednesday.
The Times, Guardian, and Daily Mail reported that the Chancellor would announce the measure for teachers, soldiers, police officers, public officials, and more.
However, nurses, doctors and other NHS workers would be exempt.
It comes despite the fact that public sector pay is already far behind what it was a decade ago in real terms due to years of conservative austerity.
The Times reports that nearly four million workers could be affected by a freeze, while the Daily Mail reported that five million could be affected.
A Treasury source did not deny the claims, pointing to comments Sunak made in July.
The chancellor originally sparked fears of a raid on public sector wages in July when he launched the spending review.
At the time, he warned that public sector pay would have to maintain “parity” with private sector wages, which were feared to have slipped into the pandemic.
The Chancellor wrote: “For the sake of fairness, we must exercise restraint in future public sector wage awards, ensuring that, during this year and the spending review period, public sector wage levels remain parity with the sector. private”.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said that loans for the first seven months of the financial year are now estimated at £ 214.9 billion, the highest in any period from April to October since records began in 1993.
October borrowing, excluding state-owned banks, was also a record, marking a £ 10.8bn increase year-on-year.
The net debt of the general government in the first seven months of this financial year (April to October 2020) is estimated to be around 9.9% of GDP, the ONS said.
The state borrowed £ 22.3 billion in October 2020, £ 10.8 billion more than in October 2019. The figure is the highest indebtedness for October and the sixth highest indebtedness in any month since monthly records began in 1993.
And indebtedness in November could be even higher after the Chancellor implemented a national lockdown on England and reinstated the full license scheme.
[ad_2]
