Should the Budget prioritise paying down the £3 trillion national debt over tax cuts?
UK public sector net debt passed £3 trillion for the first time in September 2026, about 94% of GDP, and the Budget is due on 28 October. The Government's fiscal rules require day-to-day spending to be funded from tax revenue and debt to fall as a share of the economy, rather than requiring the cash total to be repaid. Chancellor John Healey has promised fiscal discipline, and rising borrowing costs have cut his headroom to around £12bn by one estimate. Any tax cuts would have to fit within that margin or be funded elsewhere.
60 Opinions
Our economy needs help first, before paying large sums of money off a debt.
Not at this time, we must help our National Growth first then we can start to pay off the National Debt.
We should prioritize growing the economy. This would mean the debt becomes increasingly less relative to the gross national product.
The real killer is the £100bn we spend every year just on debt interest. That is money bleeding directly away from public services. Think we need to restore some fiscal discipline.
I voted yes because the deficit needs to be reduced but not by the method proposed; instead stop ALL foreign aid, deport ALL illegal immigrants immediately; stop payments for multiple wives, stop benefits to non British citizens, scrap net zero crap, start drilling for oil
Yes is my instinct here, but went with No as national growth is more important. Give people more money to spend to enrich the economy.
There needs to be some reprieve from the appalling governments of the last 30 years. Borrowing money to give abroad is insane behaviour.
Quit threatening services for, and taxes of, loyal citizens who work hard and have nothing to show for it. If you want to pay the debt you know exactly where all the wasted money is going to - target that!
Have the debt come down by boosting growth. Cut taxes and reduce regulation to incentivise money creation, and also reduce welfare. The debt will soon come down. Edited
A false binary choice. Taxes are way too high & applied on almost every activity a citizen does. Lower taxes will create significantly more tax receipts. If we concentrate on getting the UK economy moving & growth we can then pay down the debt. But Labour does not want to do this as their backbenchers just want to spend & the Global Banking system thrives on collateral backed debt. There are hundreds of £Billions that could saved & used to reduce debt & thus interest payments