when will the uk national debt be paid off
United Kingdom national debt Due to the Government's significant budget deficit, the national debt is increasing by approximately £73.5 billion per annum, or around £1.4 billion each week.[2] The Conservatives pledged in 2010 that they would eliminate the deficit by the 2015/16 financial year.[3] However, by 2014 they admitted that the structural deficit would not be eliminated until the financial year 2017/18.[4] This forecast was pushed back to 2018/19 in March 2015, and to 2019/20 in July 2015,[5] before the target of a return to surplus at any particular time was finally abandoned by the then Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne in July 2016.[6]