Not quite the case althoigh the numbers have been on an upward trend. A better measure is the percentage of GDP. This peaked at 47.7% in 2009/10 and currently is 44%. It is projected to fall to 39.5% in 2017/18. Out of interest the annual bill to service the debt is now over 30bn...about £1000 per tax payer. To put that in perspective, if that were paid out of income tax someone earning £60000 a year would be contributing over £200 a month to that bill. We're in a mess!
Welcome to an economy based on borrowing. And I don't mean the average person on the street borrowing a hundred quid...
Money never existed, central banks just created it and lend it to governments.
The government has borrowed all of our money in existence and has promised to pay it back with interest.
Where does the government get the money from to pay back the current loan
AND the interest charged on it?
If you borrow the very first £1 in existence and you promise to pay it back. Plus another £1 of interest. Where do you get the second £1 from?
So what they do is borrow more. Our economy is a ponzi scheme because they can never pay it off.
If they don't keep on creating new money in bigger amounts the whole thing would crash. Because thats where the money comes from to pay off previous loans.