UK public spending, 2025-26

£1m runs defence (day-to-day) for 13 min 29 sec

Defence (day-to-day) costs £39bn a year — £107m a day, or £1,236 every second.

Your £1m is 0.00256% of the annual bill

Source: OBR: MoD day-to-day (RDEL) budget 2025-26, £39bn; add ~£20bn+ capital for the full bill. Assumes the money goes out evenly through the year.

£1m on the clock

The same £1m elsewhere

Budget	Lasts
The whole UK governmentruns	23 seconds
The NHSruns	2 min 35 sec
The state pensionpays	3 min 37 sec
Social protection (all benefits and pensions)pays	83 seconds
Interest on the national debtcovers	5 min 23 sec
Schools and educationruns	5 min 32 sec
The deficitplugs	4 min 7 sec
HMRC's takematches	34 seconds
The monarchy (Sovereign Grant)runs	2 days 18 hr