UK national debt is on course to treble over the next half a century due to several pressures, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).
Those pressures include an ageing population, hotter temperatures due to climate change, and rising geopolitical tensions, the OBR’s new Fiscal Risks and Sustainability Report revealed.
“The OBR has laid bare the shocking state that our public finances were left in by the previous government,” said Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones.
“Highest debt since the 1960s, highest taxes since the 1940s, and debt on track to be almost three times our GDP.”
The report claims the previous and current UK government’s aspirations to raise defence spending to 2.5% of GDP could add pressure to the public finances.
In addition, the cost of transitioning to net zero, battling extreme weather linked to climate change, and a falling birth rate could also lead to more spending and less revenue, it said.
The public finances are already under pressure due to “a succession of extraordinary shocks” over the past two decades, the report notes.
This includes the global financial crisis, the pandemic and the energy crisis.
Based on policy settings from March 2024, the analysis warns that public finances will be put on “an unsustainable path”.
