House of Lords written question – answered at on 6 January 2015.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what arrangements they are making to repay outstanding debt from the First World War; and to whom the repayments will be made.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, announced on
This announcement followed the Government’s decision on
The Treasury will redeem the outstanding £1.9 billion of debt from 3½% War Loan on
The repayments on this debt will go to the holders of these bonds. The Treasury does not hold detailed information on the identity of organisations or individuals who own gilts, however information on sectoral holdings of gilts is published on a quarterly basis by the Office for National Statistics. The latest information on the breakdown of gilt holdings by sector, including a breakdown of non-UK resident holders of gilts by foreign central banks and other non-residents, is published by the ONS in Section 5.2.10 of its quarterly United Kingdom Economic Accounts publication.
We are only able to take this action today thanks to the difficult decisions that this government has taken to get a grip on the public finances. The fact that we will no longer have to pay the relatively high rate of interest on these gilts means that most important of all, this decision represents great value for money for the taxpayer.
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