Brown to borrow £351billion in the next two years (that's more than Britain's total debt from 1691 to the 1997 election)
By Benedict Brogan and James Chapman
Last updated at 1:55 AM on 27th March 2009
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Britain will borrow more money in the next two years than the country borrowed in the 306 years leading up to Labour's 1997 election win, it has been revealed.
Gordon Brown's government is set to borrow £351 billion in the two years leading up to 2011, according to financial analysts at the Ernst and Young Item club.
The total amount borrowed by the state from 1691 - two years after the Glorious Revolution - until Tony Blair swept to victory in 1997 was £347 billion.
Public debt as a share of national income is set to soar from 2.6 per cent in 2007-08 to 12.6 per cent in 2009-10 as tax receipts plummet in the face of fixed public expenditure plans.
According to some forecasts, Britain's public finances are imploding at the fastest rate of any of the G20 nations.
