Responding to The Office for Budget Responsibility’s figures, forecasting that national debt will rise every year for the next four years, the prime minister says it is "very important we have debt under control" and points to the "context" of the last few years, including the pandemic.
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00:00 I think it's very important that we have debt under control because that financial security
00:05 is not just important for the country, it's important for the future of our public services.
00:09 And I think everyone knows the context of the last few years, obviously a pandemic which
00:16 rightly necessitated the government to step in to support the NHS, the vaccine rollout, furlough,
00:21 public services more generally, but then also the energy crisis which again rightly required
00:27 the government to step in and support households with energy bills. And I think every time the
00:31 Chancellor has stood up since I got this job, the overall debt profile has improved in terms
00:39 of the percentage of GDP. Headline debt is forecast to fall from next year and we've always said on a
00:44 medium-term trajectory we'd have debt fall in which the rule sets out, the OBR confirmed that
00:49 we are meeting it. But that requires constant discipline on public spending and spending
00:54 decisions as you know.