UK

Did austerity work?

BY AILBHE REA
NOVEMBER 18, 2022

As U.K. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt unveils huge spending cuts and tax hikes in his Autumn Statement, host Ailbhe Rea looks back at the economic program still haunting the current debate: the austerity of the early 2010s. David Gauke, one of former Chancellor George Osborne’s must trusted lieutenants, opens up about how the big decisions were taken and reflects on how he’d do things differently if he had his time again. Torsten Bell, head of the Resolution Foundation think tank and formerly head of policy for Labour leader Ed Miliband, considers the effects of the spending cuts and the differences between the Labour and the Conservative positions, while Jeremy Corbyn, the former Labour leader, talks about what he thinks his party got wrong. Carys Roberts, executive director at the IPPR think tank, discusses the way the public debate played out, while Professor Michael Marmot considers the impact of austerity on life expectancy and health inequalities across the U.K.