With Austria set to launch a new 100-year bond, Royal London Asset Management (RLAM) head of fixed income Jonathan Platt questioned why the UK has not introduced something similar, stating that it has “lost the sense of ‘seizing the moment’ to make transformational change”.

Platt commented: “No UK government or agency, in our long history of government debt finance, has been given the chance to raise long-term debt at such low rates. These opportunities do not come around often and this one is very stark.

“Put bluntly, if the UK government cannot earn a better return than 1.5 per cent on its spending over the longer term it is not doing its job.”

The RLAM head of fixed income emphasised that a product, such as the one being introduced in Austria, could support a broad range of developments, including in the infrastructure, health and education sectors, while also addressing the issues surrounding unfunded public sector pensions.

The Debt Management Office is an executive agency of Her Majesty’s Treasury and falling within its remit is the obligation to “minimise financing cost” for the UK taxpayer over the long term and taking the risk into consideration, Platt argued.

“The present timidity on raising long-term finance shows just how much we have lost the sense of ‘seizing the moment’ to make transformational change,” he concluded.

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