Think-tank chief warns MPs of a 'catastrophic' living standards squeeze as taxpayers foot a soaring £155bn debt interest bill
Ruth Curtice, chief executive of the Resolution Foundation, told the Treasury Select Committee that living standards growth in the 2020s was running at barely a tenth of the pace recorded in the 2010s, even as debt interest costs soar towards £155bn.Britain's debt interest burden, which Ruth Curtice warned is forcing taxpayers to foot the bill as the government avoids cutting public spending.
Ruth Curtice, chief executive of the Resolution Foundation, told the Treasury select committee that Britain's £3 trillion debt mountain is making the country "much, much poorer" because it pays a higher borrowing rate than any other G7 economy. The OBR has already warned that rising energy prices will squeeze living standards over the next two years, with millions being dragged into higher tax bands.
Debt interest is forecast to hit £155bn in 2027-28 — more than education spending and fifty percent more than the defence budget.
Curtice cautioned that living standards growth in the 2020s is running at barely a tenth of the pace recorded in the 2010s.
Rather than curbing public spending, the government has opted to pile the burden onto taxpayers, making households poorer even as state spending rises.
