UK public sector government debt

Government Debt - in real time:

£609,117,065,425

Official government figures show net public debt standing at around £825 billion at the end of September 2009.

That is a staggering £32,098 for every household in the UK.

But there's more.

The debt figure excludes many other liabilities such as public sector pensions, PFI contracts, Network Rail debts and the cost of the bank bailouts.

Together these total £2,220 billion, or £86,388 per household.  That amounts to 158% of our annual income.

The debt figure is taken from a report by the Centre for Policy Studies which emphasises that it is based on cautious assumptions and the true figure could be approaching £4,000 billion.

In just 13 years the previous government virtually bankrupted the country.  Even without the banking crisis the figures were horrific.  When the crisis came, we were already too weak to ride it out.

The government is sitting on a massive debt time-bomb.  The crisis is far from over.  Whatever you may have heard, it is bigger than you think.