Comprehensive Spending Review - Big Picture

Well maybe a small picture with big numbers on.

The Comprehensive Spending Review outlines the government spending over the next five years, from 2010/11 to 2014/15. Starting with a total government expenditure of £697 billion pounds in 2010/11, increasing to £740 billion for 2014/15.

Big numbers, or so we might think, but that is of course a relative statement which can only really be based on their broader numerical context.

With no one place to get a simple big picture of that broader context, I’ve put together my own one page graphical version.

Drawing on data from HM Treasury, and Office for National Statistics, the £697bn for 2010/11 sits alongside our Gross Domestic Product - the total value of goods and services produced in the country - our national debt, and the sources of government income that funds the annual spending as laid out in the CSR.