To highlight the crushing size of the national debt, the TaxPayers’ Alliance (TPA) is conducting a 1,300 mile tour of Britain – featuring a 7 metre long, lorry-mounted digital Debt Clock, ticking up as the Government borrows more and more money. The campaign has a simple but direct message for the nation’s politicians: “Wake up to the National Debt!”
Crucially, the Debt Clock is touring around the whole country, stopping off at national landmarks and key cities to raise awareness of the National Debt amongst the taxpayers who will one day have to pick up the bill for politicians’ continued borrowing.
The custom-built clock, is one metre high by seven metres long, and mounted on the back of a 14m Scania Truck supplied by Keltruck Ltd. Its 80cm (32 inch) red LED display will count up the nation’s debt at a breakneck speed:
Based on figures provided by the Office for National Statistics the debt increases at the rate of:
- £5,169 per second
- £310,212 per minute
- £18,607,306 per hour
- £446,575,342 per day
The Debt Clock started its’ tour on the morning of Monday 12th April showing a National Debt figure of £781,512,328,767 and by the time the tour ends on Monday 26th April, it will have climbed to £788,210,958,904 a staggering increase of £6,698,630,137; that’s £6.6 billion.
Debt clock tour itinerary:
- Parliament, Central London, Monday 12th April
- Oxford, Tuesday 13th April
- Bristol, Wednesday 14th April
- Cardiff, Thursday 15th April
- Birmingham, Friday 16th April
- Manchester, Monday 19th April
- Edinburgh, Tuesday 20th April
- Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Wednesday 21st April
- Hull, Thursday 22nd April
- Peterborough, Friday 23rd April
- Norwich, Monday 26th April
Matthew Elliott, chief Executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance said:
“Britain has a huge national debt, but politicians of all parties seem to want to borrow even more. The taxpayers who are expected to pay off these huge debts are being left out of the debate in Westminster, so we decided to take the issue on the road and to the people all around the country. We always hear huge numbers being bandied around in the billions and trillions, but it’s only when you actually see the real figure that it starts to sink in how huge the debt has become. The Debt Clock’s huge visual impact shows this is an issue that cannot be ignored, and the political parties must wake up to the size of the national debt.”
You can watch the Debt Clock’s progress around the country on Twitter at @UKDebtClock & #DebtClock.
