UK debt projected to almost triple over next 50 years, watchdog warns

Public finances under pressure from ageing population, climate crisis and security risks, OBR report says

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The UK's debt mountain will almost triple to more than 270% of national income over the next 50 years because of pressures from an ageing population, the climate crisis and security risks, the public finances watchdog has warned.

In a report that lays out the main risks to government tax and spending into the second half of the century, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) said the size of the national debt had tripled since the turn of the millennium and would rise threefold again by 2070.