Books

The UK’s official debt is huge and has been swollen further by Covid, by poor demographics and by a series of governments that were determined to give older people everything they wanted. The country has far more obligations than it admits to and insolvency now looks inevitable.

Bankrupt State argues that getting out of this mess has become virtually impossible, because of the way the politicians have led the electorate to believe that the country is prosperous and solvent. The only ways out are either cutting spending or raising taxes. Both are effectively blocked. Yet there is hope. The financial crisis – which may well lead to official default – will provide an opportunity to create reform that has been politically impossible for decades.