Budget 2015: Britain will be debt-free in just THREE years, announces Chancellor
GEORGE Osborne has announced Britain will be debt-free in just THREE years as he declared the economy is finally “out of the red and into the black”.
George Osborne announced major reforms to the pensions system
During his final Budget statement for this Government, the Chancellor claimed national debt as a share of GDP will fall this year and that Britain would be running a budget SURPLUS by 2018/19 – at 0.2% of GDP.
Mr Osborne said that by 2020, the surplus would amount to £7bn, although this is down on the £23bn figure outlined in his Autumn Statement.
He said: “This year borrowing is set to fall to £90.2bn; a billion lower than expected at the Autumn Statement. It falls again in 2015-16 to £75.3 billion; then £39.4bn the year after that, before falling to £12.8bn - in total that's £5bn less borrowing than we forecast just three months ago.”
The Tory frontbencher also revealed the Treasury would look to sell a further £9bn in shares held in Lloyds bank, which was bailed out by taxpayers during the finical crisis.
The Chancellor said the Government would also sell-off £13bn of mortgage assets held in Northern Rock and Bradford and Bingley.