UK national debt: who does the government owe £2 trillion to and should we be concerned?

At £2.08 trillion, the total debt pile is so large it is difficult to comprehend – more than the UK’s economic output for a year

The Bank of England has created £450bn so far this year (PA)

The UK’s national debt has hit its highest level in almost 60 years after the government spent another £22bn to help the country through the coronavirus crisis.

At £2.08 trillion, the total debt pile is so large it is difficult to comprehend. It is more than the UK’s economic output for a year.

Yet, despite the national debt having been central to political debate for much of the past decade, there remain some understandable and widely held misconceptions about what the national debt is and how concerned we should be about it.