Most of that is interest that we borrowed to bail out the banks - that is an extra-ordinary borrowing charge - to represent that as a ongoing borrowing is mischievious.
This is a straw man argument because nobody is suggesting that the defecit can be ignored and we should just carry on as it there is no issue.
It is a matter of timing and degree.
The best time to start making the big cuts are when the private sector is strong enough to stand on its own two feet without Government contracts.
That's not now - current government spending cuts will have a lot of companies go under - that will put more people out of work chasing too few jobs.
Connaught is a case in point - 1,400 job losses blamed directly on the cuts
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11289734
Of course for the Tories that is not the real issue and they are using this as an excuse to shrink Government because small government is an article of faith for them.
See the decision to close the National Audit Office with a ridiculous set of trumped up pretences
Quoting big numbers without putting them into context is a rather cheap tabloid trick
Take a look at this chart of UK debt as a percentage of GDP
http://www.ukpublicsp...ional_debt_chart.html
Not quite so scary now is it?