Top economist warns UK debt interest costs are spiraling out of control

Jim O’Neill, a former Goldman Sachs executive who advised Andy Burnham, warned that the United Kingdom’s debt-interest burden is "increasingly crazy" and dwarfs the defence budget. He highlighted that over £200 billion in interest has been paid since Labour’s 2024 election, with this year’s cost projected at roughly £110 billion and expected to climb to £137 billion soon. O’Neill criticized the government’s borrowing of about £77 billion since April as unsustainable, citing the legacy of post-2008 and COVID-era largesse.

He called for ending the triple-lock pension rule and warned a capital-gains tax increase could deter start-up investment. The IMF’s Kristalina Georgieva echoed the need for bold fiscal steps, and O’Neill also dismissed the "growth in every postcode" slogan as fiscally wasteful.