Osborne in Xmas jumper surprise

What do you give the man that’s caused more misery than Scrooge for Christmas? Well the Daily Mirror considered this point carefully – and today – national wear a Christmas jumper day – presented the Chancellor with a festive sweater depicting the fluctuating UK public debt across the last four centuries, in a graph format.

A case of giving a ‘wally a woolly’, three wise public sector workers travelled from afar and presented the gift to George at No 11 Downing Street this morning (December 12).

The paper’s aim is to make the Chancellor think and is part of its #Madeuthink intelligent tabloid credentials campaign.

“We wanted our readers to see the context of the UK debt relative to recent history, which has seen austerity measures put in place by the Coalition government,” commented Wessel Van Rensburg, Trinity Mirror’s digital marketing manager.

“Using a Christmas jumper to convey this information is especially timely on Christmas Jumper Day. Many people will also be managing their budgets carefully during the festive period and New Year.

“The graph makes interesting reading, with notable peaks and drops throughout the decades, leading us to where we are now. We hope this got our readers thinking.”

Firefighter Clint Riley, pictured with the jumper said, “These public debt figures show the chancellor should be more generous to the hard working people of this country.”

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