Britain's national debt has reached £3 trillion, according to the Taxpayers' Alliance Debt Clock. This figure represents a £1 trillion increase in six years, following an 11-year period to go from £1 trillion to £2 trillion in the 2010s.
Debt interest payments reached £109.3bn in 2025-26, marking the fourth-highest year on record in real terms. All four of the highest recorded years for debt interest have occurred since 2022-23. This means more than £1 in every £12 of government spending is now allocated to servicing debt interest.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who has been in office for just over two weeks, is projected to have an average annual debt interest bill of £112.8bn, based on current OBR forecasts. This would be the second-highest bill for any Prime Minister on record, behind Rishi Sunak's average of £121.5bn a year.
The OBR's long-term projections indicate that current government plans will only temporarily stabilise debt, with it beginning to climb again from 2032-33. By the late 2040s, the OBR describes the debt trajectory as unsustainable, partly due to projected increases in state pension and health spending.