By Rupert Carey, Anthony Reuben and Gerry GeorgievaBBC Verify
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Laura Trott and BBC PM presenter Evan Davis got into an argument about whether UK government debt is rising or falling.
He asked her how the government could be sticking to its pledge to get debt down while talking about tax cuts.
He said official projections showed debt rising. She replied: “It’s falling as a percentage of GDP” which he then disputed, saying: “I’m amazed that you don’t know that debt is rising”.
According to the figures the government uses to measure this pledge, he was right and she was wrong.
What’s happening to debt?
First, let’s look at the debt target.
The pledge is that debt as a proportion of the size of the economy, measured by Gross Domestic Product (GDP), should be on track to fall in five years time.
That forecast comes from the…
