Roughly:
- 33.4% overseas investors
- 21.1% UK pension funds and insurers
- 18.5% Bank of England APF
- 27% Banks & other holders
As long-term gilt yields hit their highest levels in nearly two decades, the cost of rolling over and adding to the £2.9 trillion debt keeps rising.
British taxpayers are funding this interest bill. That money could be going to defence, the NHS or schools.
Instead a large share goes to overseas investors, pension funds and banks.
Every extra pound spent on rising debt interest is a pound taken from the things people actually want government to fund.
Source: UK Debt Management Report 2026-27, Chart A.9
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/debt-management-report-2026-27
quotingBritain will spend £109 BILLION on debt interest this year.
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That is more than:
- The entire Education budget
- The entire Defence budget
- Nearly 4× the Transport budget
- More than 5× the Home Office budget
- Nearly 8× the Justice budget
- Roughly half the Health and Social Care (NHS) budget
That is the equivalent of around £3,220 per working person per year, or £268 a month, just to service the national debt.
The debt is rising by roughly £4,000 to £4,300 every second.
At a time when people are already being squeezed by the cost of living, a huge amount of the tax they pay is being swallowed up by interest on old debt rather than paying for the services they actually use.
After all that, the £2.9 trillion debt is still there.
https://uknationaldebt.com/
Snapshot of the live UK National Debt Clock taken at 7:12 am on 18 Aug 2026.
