The concept of austerity featured prominently in the first round of hearings of the UK’s COVID inquiry, which has recently come to a close. Notably, former chancellor George Osborne claimed that austerity had a “positive” effect on the UK’s ability to withstand the pandemic.
Our reading of the evidence is that the austerity policies initiated after 2010 weakened the UK, allowing COVID to do more damage than it otherwise might have.
