An eye-watering £1.2trillion was spent by the UK’s public sector in 2023/24, a figure comparable to the size of Canada’s entire yearly economic output.
This figure- which has risen 16 per cent in real terms over the last five years- equates to 41 per cent of the UK’s economy. It means just over £17,000 is spent per person in Britain.
Thanks to Chancellor Reeves’ bombshell budget, it is also a figure about to increase significantly as Labour usher in an unprecedented period of ‘big government’ with far-reaching tax and spend measures.
But before Reeves’ measures take effect, Facts4EU and GB News have crunched the £1.2trillion figure and revealed several surprising areas of expenditure that have surged significantly since 2018/19.
Top 20 fastest growing areas of public spending by %
Facts4EU
As the graph reveals ‘Policing Immigration and Citizenship’ has surged the most of all areas in percentage terms, increasing ninefold since 2018/19.
This comes as Britain continues to grapple with immigration after it was revealed the Home Office underestimated net migration significantly last year.
Other surprising areas include a 63.7 per cent rise in public sector spending on tertiary education like universities and colleges while street lighting funding also rose 42.3 per cent, possibly after several campaigns to improve safety of our streets.
There were also some unsurprising rises unearthed in the data crunch. After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, foreign military aid shot up 429.8 per cent as Britain scrambled to arm its ally in eastern Europe.
This would also explain a near 100 per cent rise in Defence Research and Development spending in areas like drone warfare.
Facts4EU and GB News also analysed the areas with largest increase in spending by billions which revealed contrasting results to percentage increases.
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Top 20 fastest growing areas of public spending in billions
Fcats4EU
Perhaps unsurprisingly, ‘medical services’ tops the list for areas with the largest spending increase in monetary terms since 2018/19 as the NHS continues to hoover up taxpayer cash.
This is only set to increase after Labour agreed inflation-busting salary raises for NHS staff.
The next two biggest monetary increases in spending related to debt. ‘Bank of England debt transactions’ and ‘central government debt interest’ rose by £34.9billion and £28.6billion respectively.
Sir John Redwood, former Conservative Secretary of State for Wales, said of the report: “Facts4EU has revealed why we had a bad tax-raising budget. Too many public sector costs are out of control, from debt interest to the runaway nationalised railway.
“Their great list of the biggest rises point straight to the bad management of our debt and the big losses of the Bank of England.
“Time to sort this out and spare the taxpayer.”
This comes after the ONS found the UK’s economy shrank for the second month in a row today.
The development will be a blow to Chancellor Reeves whose growth goals have been quietly dropped of late as the UK faces a worsening economic outlook.
