How the UK government finances its spending: an Accounting Model of the UK Exchequer

This presentation was given on the 12th March 2021 at a seminar run by the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose chaired by Josh RyanCollins, IIPP Head of Finance and Macroeconomics and organised by Asker Voldsgaard, PhD student at UCL IIPP. In this presentation, Andrew Berkeley presents the results of a detailed study of the UK public finances, coauthored with Richard Tye and Neil Wilson, in association with the Gower Institute for Modern Monetary Studies (GIMMS). The report is called An Accounting Model of the UK Exchequer and examines where money for public spending comes from in the system of public finance. The authors conclude that the governments Consolidated Fund is the ultimate source of funding in the UK. Consequently, the UK government is not dependent on financial market actors in order to spend nor on its ability to raise taxes from the private sector. Link to report: