UK public debt has passed the £1 trillion mark for the first time, as the Government borrowed nearly £14bn last month despite its continued austerity drive.

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

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said it expected the figure to ease back in January due to tax inflows, but to rise again in February.

However, borrowing in December came in lower than expected, putting Chancellor George Osborne further ahead of a target set by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) to bring borrowing down by £10bn to £127bn this financial year.

The ONS said that public sector net borrowing, excluding financial interventions fell to £13.7bn in December, down from £15.9bn in the same period in 2010.

Sterling slipped slightly against the euro to €1.1918 following the news, after falling close to a four-week low on the back of better-than-expected eurozone PMI surveys. The pound also fell a quarter of a cent against the dollar, to $1.5534.

She added: "We expect weaker growth than the OBR is forecasting to make its future borrowing forecasts much harder to meet. Indeed, so far, it has been weaker spending growth helping borrowing to fall, whereas tax receipts are falling short of the fiscal forecasts."

Most economists expect official GDP figures released on Wednesday to show the UK economy contracted during the final quarter of 2011.

Growth is expected to have fallen 0.1pc in the three months to December according to a Bloomberg poll, compared with a 0.6pc rise during the third quarter.

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) warned on Monday that Britain risks falling back into recession because of an "unabated" weakening of the jobs market, while the Ernst & Young ITEM Club and the Centre for Economics and Business Research believe that the UK is already in recession.

Originally posted by colin42
reply to post by DROKKR

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It makes complete sense to invade more countries as there is an 'invade one get one free' offer on at the moment.

Also it shows that their policy of pay less get more is not just words. They dismantle our navy and airforce, issue redundancy notices to our soldiers on active duty and tell the territorials to get ready to die for free.

Will cameron and his cronies put their family and relatives on the front lines with poor equipement and poor training? I think we all know the answer to that one.

Originally posted by michael1983l
reply to post by n00bUK

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And which bank will issue our own money? A non centeral, central bank I presume?

Originally posted by michael1983l
reply to post by n00bUK

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As I have said in my edited post, that money would be backed by nothing globally recognised and our money would become worthless abroad, meaning no more imports for us.

Originally posted by surrealist


So amid some positive data in the Eurozone

The Treasury have made some provision in their forecasts for the losses we're likely to make on the bank bailouts. As of April 2009, unrealised losses from financial sector interventions account for £134.5 billion of the national debt. Northern Rock and Bradford & Bingley account for £123 billion, with a further £9 billion going to compensate depositors with the Dunfermline Building Society. If this wasn't bad enough, the picture is going to get considerably worse. The Office of National Statistics has classified the Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds as public corporations but hasn't yet included their liabilities in the national debt. When they finally crunch the numbers, expect the results to be ugly. According to EU figures, Britain has pledged £781.2 billion in capital injections, liability guarantees and liquidity support to the banking system. As taxpayers, we're on the hook for any losses.