Last week I reported that Labour’s Rachel Reeves had issued a complaint to the UK Statistics Authority after David Cameron falsely stated in a Conservative Party political broadcast that the coalition “was paying down Britain’s debts”.
Andrew Dilnot, the chair of the stats authority, has now replied to Reeves, confirming that there was no basis for Cameron’s claim. He rightly points out that the national debt has risen from £811.3bn, or 55.3 per cent of GDP, to £1,111.4bn, or 70.7 per cent of GDP, since the coalition entered office. This is hardly surprising. For debt to fall, the government would have to run a budget surplus, something unthinkable at a time of economic stagnation. But that hardly excuses Cameron’s myth-making. The PM doesn’t need to be told the difference between the deficit and the debt (although Dilnot helpfully reminds him anyway), he just chooses to use the latter as a synoym for the former because it’s a more familiar concept to voters.
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