Sunak's complacency towards the management of Britain's accounts is breathtaking

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

58% : High spending levels were maintained during the 2010s, with state spending equivalent to 41.9pc of GDP.
57% : And the reason it's happening is because government spending is spiralling - with public spending estimated at £1,189bn in 2023/24.
56% : Throughout the 1990s, state spending averaged around 36.6pc of national income.
56% : But rather than continuing to fall to pre-Covid levels, government expenditure then rose again to 46.1pc in 2022, and an estimated 46.2pc this year.
53% : As such, the share of adults paying tax at 40pc will soar to 14pc over the next five years, according to an Institute of Fiscal Studies report released last week.
52% : That amounts to 7.8m adults - 20pc of the 38m projected to be paying income tax in five years' time.
51% : In the early 1990s, just 3.5pc of UK adults paid income tax at the higher rate - a tax-band designed for the seriously well-paid.
51% : And over a quarter of teachers are now on course to pay tax at 40pc in five years, compared to one in 20 a generation ago.
50% : By 2028, 13pc of those working on NHS wards - over one in eight - will pay tax at 40pc.
50% : The Office for Budget Responsibility calculates this extended threshold freeze will raise £26bn a year - equivalent to hiking the basic rate of income tax from 20p to 24p in the pound, a move that would spark a huge political backlash.
50% : During the decade from 2000, government expenditure rose to 39.8pc of GDP, in part due to heavy spending in 2009, in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.
50% : Massive expenditure during Covid lockdown, funded largely by government bonds bought with money created by the Bank of England, saw government spending skyrocket to 53.1pc of national income in 2020 - as the state channelled a hydrant of cash into furlough schemes and business support loans.
49% : As lockdown ended and the economy reopened, state spending then dropped sharply to 44.5pc of GDP in 2021.

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