Gordon Brown under fire again : "...the careers of a few politicians are nothing compared with the damage about to be visited on the United Kingdom from its debt-fuelled spending binge..."

Will Chancellor Brown pay the price for his economic incompetence ?...............

Credit crunch awaits Brown

British household debt grew at a frightening 10.2pc last year, while the economy as a whole managed a piffling 1.8pc. We hear a lot about our trade deficit and our budget deficit but it is the underlying personal sector deficit which is the real horror show in the UK economy at the moment.

Our revelation in yesterday's paper that personal debt at £1,158 billion for 2005 was more than £30 billion higher than the nation's entire £1,127 billion economic output has caused widespread consternation among many people except, that is, with the one person who ought to be more worried than most - Gordon Brown.

Our collective debt has been likened to an economic iceberg. Many consumers are going to founder on this financial hazard which, bizarrely, remains almost completely submerged from most people's view in a mist of myopia, including the Chancellor's it would seem.

At a time when the consumer sector is holed below the water line and rapidly listing to starboard, Mr Brown seems remarkably sanguine about the state of the nation's finances. So relaxed is he that he spent yesterday talking about the Government's security measures, ID cards and a new law to ban the glorification of terrorism as he prepares for what he no doubt believes will be a glorious promotion to succeed Tony Blair when the Prime Minister hands over the keys to 10 Downing Street.

However, the decade of debt, which the naughties have turned into, will not only catch up with those consumers who have been profligate with credit cards, store cards, excessive mortgages and equity withdrawal and every other form of hock that the financial services industry can dream up. It will also catch up with Mr Brown and be the ruin of his political career.

It is not only consumers who are now drowning and no longer waving. The public sector's finances are also out of control, the only fix being an increase in taxes or a cut in spending, or both.

But add to this the impact on the economy of a consumer slow down and you have a slump the likes of which we have not seen for more than 15 years. All the signs are there. Rising bankruptcies, rising repossession, an increase in business failures plus a sharp slow down in high street spending in January and figures from the City that show a big increase in the demand for savings. It's all one way traffic down bad news boulevard at the moment.

Mr Brown's legacy will be this ugly fall out from the decade of debt, a legacy that will undermine his premiership, should he get one, and give his own successor an impossible job.

But the careers of a few politicians are nothing compared with the damage about to be visited on the United Kingdom from its debt-fuelled spending binge.