Northern Rock Breaks UK Debt Rule
Posted on 22 May, 2008 at 11:07 by Peter Kelly
The nationalisation of Northern Rock has pushed the UK debt level above the government’s golden rule of 40%, as it has piled nearly £100 billion onto the national debt level.
The Office of National Statistics (ONS) published researched which showed that bailing out the lender has pushed public debt to 43.1% of gross domestic product.
Chancellor Alistair Darling has said that impact on public findings are “temporary and exceptional”. The Government have dismissed these findings by saying that as the move is only temporary, nationalising Northern Rock should not be taken into consideration. Without the inclusion of Northern Rock, the net debt levels were at 36.7% in March 2008.
The ONS have stated that the government should add this additional debt to the public balance sheet, which estimates the the debt is more than £3,000 for every family in Britain