Who is lending UK billions?

[HMSSophie]

When governments borrow money, who are they borrowing from?

The UK has £181billion in reserve. . We are a very wealthy country. I am guessing that is where much of the money is coming from.

Regardless of where the debt comes from, it will be paid back by U.K. residents over the next few decades. This will take the form of high inflation, increased taxation and cuts to the services everyone is used to.

@FLOrenze

The UK has £181billion in reserve. . We are a very wealthy country. I am guessing that is where much of the money is coming from.

The UK has £181billion in reserve.

Small change is not a 'reserve' whatever that is supposed to mean.

We are a very wealthy country

Yep, No 5.

£2.5BN a day flew into the pantry at No 11.

Let's see what happens next though. We gave up our big ticket (financial services) when we voted to leave in 2016.

The lion will emaciate. The lambs came out to play, but they cannot do lion's work, even though they thought they could. It is going to be a rough ride.

The emaciated lion will find its

Thank you all. That's so interesting. The economist article was very clear too.

UK government bonds ("gilts") are mainly bought by British pension funds and insurance companies who prefer assets denominated in pounds to avoid foreign exchange risk. Article here explains it clearly.

Original Twitter thread is here

The taxpayer bailed out the banks in the 2008 (?) crash. Why can't banks return the favour now?
(I find it all really hard to get my head around obviously)

What an interesting thread.
I have never understood this before and wondered who on earth was lending the government money ! It makes sense now !
Thanks for explaining everyone. I have learnt something new.

Regardless of where the debt comes from, it will be paid back by U.K. residents over the next few decades. This will take the form of high inflation, increased taxation and cuts to the services everyone is used to. ... and economic growth. If the economy grows, we earn more and tax take increases. It doesn’t mean the tax rate necessarily increases. Growth is the story that austerity forgot ...