Despatch: A £3 trillion problem

Britain's national debt has just passed £3 trillion for the first time – and John Penrose says it's time to get it under control. But while Andy Burnham ruled out breaking Rachel Reeves's fiscal rules to borrow more, he's asked his Chancellor to find 'wriggle room' within them. Penrose argues that what we need instead is full transparency about the state's liabilities. Any honest reckoning would include the future cost of the state pension, already running at over 220% of GDP. Rather than fudging the figures yet again, Burnham should build Britain a proper national balance sheet. With an honest set of numbers, we can finally have a proper conversation about how to reduce the stock of debt. Each week we bring you an example of the best writing from CapX, read aloud. For hosted conversations, listen to The Capitalist, every Wednesday. Get full access to the CapX Briefing at briefing.capx.co Get full access to The CapX Briefing at briefing.capx.co/subscribe