£804.8bn

Putting our plans in context

"The government's overall debt now stands at £804.8bn, or 57.5% of GDP, an increase of £172bn in the past year.

The massively increased levels of debt are due to the government bailing out troubled banks and its efforts to stimulate the economy during the recession.

It has also had to contend with severely reduced tax receipts from house sales and City bonuses, for example"

BBC news web pages