Labour MP Goes Viral After Using Custard Creams To Explain The UK's Ballooning Debt

Gordon McKee in the video.A Labour MP has gone viral on social media after making a video in which he uses biscuits to explain the UK’s ballooning national debt.Gordon McKee’s clip has so far been watched 1.5 million times on X and won praise for its humour and originality.The Glasgow South MP uses towers of custard creams and chocolate bourbons to explain how deep in the red the government is.Sitting at a table with a bookshelf behind him, McKee says: “There’s a reason Britain feels broke, and it’s probably not what you think. I’m going to explain, but first of all you need to understand one thing: it’s called debt-to-GDP ratio. It sounds boring, it kind of is boring, but it’s important.”Holding a chocolate bourbon in one hand to represent the UK’s debt and a custard cream representing how rich the country is, the MP goes on: “When I was born in 1994 it was about 30%. In other words, for every pound the country made the government owed 30p in debt, and it stayed that way until around 2008, when the banks ran out of money and we had to bail them out.“So the debt then jumps to around 60%. Over the next 10 years of Tory government, it rises to about 80%. Then some guy eats a bat in Wuhan and now nobody can go to work, so the government has to borrow even more money. And today, Britain’s debt-to-GDP ration is about 100%. “But the weirdest thing is that’s not even the main problem because in France the debt-to-GDP ratio is 113%, in America it’s 120%, Japan’s 240%.“What’s really mad is Britain is paying more interest on its debt than any of these countries because the people lending money to the government aren’t just looking at the total amount of debt, but how quickly it’s racking up.“Think of it like this: Japan is your mate who’s always in his overdraft, America’s the guy who spends a lot but always shows up to work.“Britain was the sensible one, but we’ve bought a dog, a new car and a hair transplant all in the one month. We’ve pretended that we’ve had a big pay increase, but in reality we’ve just got a credit card with a lot of debt.“So the people who lend the government money are starting to charge a lot more for it.“We’re now in the crazy position where 8% of all of the money the government spends is just servicing debt. That’s more than double the entire defence budget, and if you’re spending more servicing your debt than you are defending your country, that is not good.”The MP than invites viewers to follow his X account to see part two of his video setting out how he thinks the government can get out of this mess.Britain's debt, explained with custard creams. pic.twitter.com/EnqyCOENY7— Gordon McKee MP (@GordonMcKeeMP) November 24, 2025McKee’s video has won widespread praise on X.Gordon is probably the best user of social media Labour has. This is excellent. https://t.co/5auuiOjAOh— Tom Harris 🇬🇧 (@MrTCHarris) November 24, 2025I’ve no clue what solutions he’ll have in part 2, or if I’ll agree with them, but this is just brilliant communication. https://t.co/AXhhMnZ2hf— Dan Neidle (@DanNeidle) November 24, 2025Gordon was the first MP to hire a “content creator,” and there were eyebrows raised about how that role would work and what the impact would be. It seems like the answer is below, and now I want a biscuit https://t.co/X1wnVEoXKo— Bethany Dawson (@bethanymrd) November 24, 2025This is brilliant. 10/10 @GordonMcKeeMPWe need more economic explainer videos based on biscuits https://t.co/f4GOCpXqCk— Ben Guerin (@bjhguerin) November 25, 2025Related...Brexit Will Damage The UK Economy 'For The Foreseeable Future', Says Bank Of England ChiefRachel Reeves Has Just Been Handed Even More Bad News About The State Of The EconomyMost Brits Now Believe The UK Economy Has Got Worse Since We Left The EU

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