Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much they owe the government of the United States as a result of the First World War; and what are the arrangements for repayment.

At the end of the First World War, the debt owed to the United States by the United Kingdom amounted to around £850 million. Repayments of the debt were made between 1923 and 1931. In 1931, President Hoover of the United States proposed a one year moratorium on all war debts, which allowed extensive international discussions on the general problems of debt repayment to be held. However, no satisfactory agreement was reached. In the absence of such an agreement, no payments have been made to, or received from, other nations since 1934. At the time, the United Kingdom was owed more by other nations than the outstanding principal it owed the United States.

For this reason, liabilities and assets arising from WW1 have not been listed on the UK government’s balance sheet since 1944-45.