Babies are born owing £17,000 due to public debt, says Cameron

Published on Monday 12 January 2009 21:14

THIS image of a four-week-old baby is the latest weapon being used the Conservatives to attack the government's soaring levels of public debt.

David Cameron, the Tory leader, yesterday unveiled a poster advertising campaign claiming that every child born in Britain starts life owing 17,000 as a result of record borrowing under Labour.

Official projections show that net government debt, as a percentage of the size of the UK economy, will rise from 36.3 per cent in 2007-8 to 57.4 per cent in 2013-14. By this time, the UK will owe more than 1 trillion.

The poster reads: "Dad's nose, Mum's eyes, Gordon Brown's debt."

Mr Cameron said: "Every child born in Britain this year will be staggering along under Gordon Brown's debt – 17,000 each to be precise, which will take them decades to pay off."

The Tories claim that tax hikes will be required to pay off the debt in the long term. Mr Cameron said there was "something morally repugnant" about Labour "sacrificing tomorrow for the political convenience of today". He said: "For the first time in generations, parents are looking at their children and questioning if they will have a better life than they themselves had."

Yvette Cooper, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, countered: "If we don't act now, the recession will last longer, run deeper and cost every one of us more."