Presenting his Autumn statement to a packed House of Common this lunchtime Osborne said the debt caused by these banks, which had previously been kept off balance sheet, would be transferred onto the account of national debt.
He said: “This is a reminder of the price the country is still paying for the mistakes of the past.”
However Osborne said the deficit and borrowing had fallen despite predictions that it would rise.
“The road is hard but we are making progress,” said the Chancellor.
The deficit, which is the gap between what the government spends and what it receives in tax revenue, is forecast to fall from 7.9% last year to 6.9% this year, then 6.1%, 5.2%, 4.2%, and 2.6%, reaching 1.6% in 2017-18.
