George Osborne may have told the British people that the struggle to get the nation’s finances in order was unfinished, but the public seems to think otherwise.
Donations and bequests from the public to reduce the national debt fell to less than £8,000 in the most recent financial year, back to levels not seen since 2008-09, when the country was mired in the financial crisis.
The £7,823 received in the year to the end of March from public-spirited donors to help to sort out Britain’s books marks a sharp fall on the £799,390 received the year before, when 16 patriots seemingly bypassed the Battersea Dogs & Cats Home and sent money to the Exchequer.
Donations are handled by a little-known corner of the City, the commissioners for the reduction of the national debt, which is part of the Debt Management Office. The commissioners use the proceeds to buy gilts from the market for cancellation.
Mr Osborne recently moved to revive the commissioners, telling the great and the good during his Mansion House speech in June that “without sound public finances there can be no lasting economic security”.
Advertisement
“Not only have the commissioners for the reduction of the national debt not formally met for over 150 years, it’s worse than that — most of the commissioners don’t even know who they are. No wonder the public finances got into such a mess,” Mr Osborne said.
The chancellor called a formal meeting of the commissioners last month, the first since 1860, when William Gladstone was chancellor.
The commissioners are pillars of the establishment, including the chancellor, the governor of the Bank of England, the lord chief justice and the Speaker of the House of Commons.
A spokesman for the Debt Management Office said that donations from the public to pay down the national debt were volatile, “given that receipts are unsolicited and wholly dependant on the goodwill of the general public”.
The £799,390 received the year before was bolstered by two big donations. One high-profile bequest of £520,000 sparked criticism when the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats divided money from Joan Edwards, a retired nurse, between them. Her will had left the money to “whichever government is in office”.
Advertisement
The parties subsequently agreed that the money would go to the Treasury to pay down the national debt, which stands at £1.5 trillion.