The Peter McCormack Show
#216 - Ross Clark - Britain is Bust & The Coming Sovereign Debt Crisis
- Britain's accumulated debt reaches £3.4 trillion (100% of GDP), with interest payments alone consuming £109 billion annually—exceeding the entire defence budget.
- Taxing all billionaires would fund the government for only six months; no major political party has a credible plan to address the structural deficit of £133 billion.
- Public sector productivity has stagnated for nearly 30 years despite technological advancement, yet civil service headcount continues to rise.
- The triple lock on state pensions costs an extra £15 billion yearly compared to indexing to earnings, and welfare reform (particularly disability and personal independence payments) remains politically untouchable.
- Bond markets signal declining confidence in UK fiscal management; yields now exceed those under Liz Truss, signalling potential for rapid sovereign debt crisis if yields spike further.
- Austerity (2010–2016) merely reversed emergency COVID spending and still left governments running deficits; genuine spending cuts have never been implemented.