Living on tick... Hock clock reveals dramatic extent of UK national debt

The Office for National Statistics figures show the UK dipped into the red by another 23.5 billion in March.

And the grim statistics were rammed home when the Taxpayers' Alliance's giant debt clock visited Hull yesterday, showing passers-by in Queen Victoria Square the staggering rate at which the debt mountain is growing – 5,168 a second, 18,607,305 an hour and 446,575,342 a day.

The Alliance accuses the main political parties of not being upfront with voters about the size of the debt or the steps needed to address it.

It estimates the total debt will rise to 788bn by the time their national tour ends on Monday, a rise of more than 6.7bn in just a fortnight.

A shred of comfort was that borrowing for the financial year to the end of March came within Chancellor Alistair Darling's lowered Budget forecast.

Excluding financial intervention, annual borrowing reached 163.4 billion, below his latest prediction for 167 billion. But Britain's public sector net debt is now a record 62 per cent of gross domestic product.

Borrowing has soared as unemployment and Government actions to help prop up the economy have taken their toll.