"Germany is at 60% - a few others are higher, as have we, but only at times of war etc."
Quite a few others, actually.
Japan has the world's highest national debt - currently running at around 234% of its GDP.
Greece comes next, at 181%
Canada is running at 83%
Bahrain 88%
Belgium 101%
Brazil 88%
Cyprus 112%
France 96%
Italy 130%
Jordan 95%
Lebanon 149%
Portugal 120%
USA 106%
Venezuela 159%
No country can exist without National debt because to do so would mean gathering more tax revenues to maintain public service levels, and that would mean raising taxation to the point where an economy might collapse - higher taxes lead inevitably to inflation, as people struggle to pay and demand higher wages, which lead to higher prices, which also fuel inflation and so on.
To have a healthy economy you need a nation of traders and spenders - sell lots of goods and services, and get citizens to spend their money in the economy. Sell more abroad and import less, and you'll have a healthy balance of payments. Busy manufacturers and service providers produce more tax revenues - both corporate and private - and that enables you to pay down your debt.
Simple, isn't it? (Not)
Political parties make promises at election time because they want us to vote for them - they know that we all want better living standards, better law and order, and better health services. Opposition parties tend to go for broke - promising almost anything to get into power. Once they are there, of course they can't possibly fulfill all those promises, so they invent excuses - they didn't realise what a mess the previous government left them being a favourite.
As electors, we need to understand all that, and make our decisions based on a pragmatic assessment, rather than expecting politicians to do exactly what they said they were going to do. We're not children, and whingeing about politicians being a bunch of lying toads is going to get us nowhere. Of course they tell lies - politicians all over the world do it, and have been doing it for hundreds of years.
If you want perfection, you're on the wrong planet