AUSTERITY KILLS

Cameron-Osborne austerity left UK ‘hugely unprepared’ for Covid, says report

NHS left ‘dangerously understaffed’, says TUC – as former PM and chancellor prepare for public hearings

Adam Forrest
Political Correspondent
INDEPENDENT

June 5,2023



Former PM David Cameron and former chancellor George Osborne
(PA)

The UK was hugely unprepared for the Covid crisis because of years of austerity overseen by David Cameron and George Osborne, according to a new report.

The Trade Union Congress (TUC) said funding cuts reduced the capacity to respond to the crisis, leaving the NHS and social care sector “dangerously understaffed”.

Public services capacity was damaged by “steep cuts” to almost every part of the public sector, the union added.

Safe staffing levels in health and social care were undermined by multiple years of pay caps and pay freezes, which impeded recruitment and increased staff turnover, the report found.

Mr Cameron and Mr Osborne are expected to push back against the claims of the damage done by austerity cut when they appear at the Covid inquiry in the weeks ahead.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt – who was health secretary under the coalition government – is also set to give evidence at hearings on preparedness that start on 13 June.

The report was published ahead of a joint press conference with the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group on Monday about the lessons they believe must be learned through the UK Covid-19 Inquiry.

In 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic began, spending per capita was lower than in 2010 in social care, transport, housing, childcare, schools, higher education, police, fire services, and environmental protection, according to the TUC.

It claimed this limited the ability of public services to contribute effectively to civil contingencies and to continue essential activities effectively, such as children’s education.

The report added that during the pandemic, when workplace risks multiplied, workplace inspections and enforcement notices fell to an all-time low. Funding for the Health and Safety Executive was 43 per cent lower in 2021/22 than in 2009/10 in real terms, it claimed.

NHS was left damaged by ‘steep cuts’, says TUC
(Getty)

TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said learning lessons meant taking “an unflinching look at the choices made by our leaders in the years before the pandemic” – saying funding cuts put NHS staff levels “in the danger zone”.


Mr Nowak said: “Cuts to social security pushed many more people below the poverty line, leaving them more vulnerable to infection, and cuts to health and safety left workers exposed to rogue employers who cut corners and put their lives at risk.

He added: “Austerity cost the nation dearly. It left us hugely unprepared for the pandemic, and it left far too many workers unprotected. The consequences were painful and tragic.”

Boris Johnson remains at the centre of an astonishing row as Rishi Sunak’s government launched a High Court bid to challenge the inquiry’s demand for the former PM’s unredacted messages and notebooks.

Bereaved families told The Independent that Mr Sunak should stop trying to “protect himself” and hand over his own WhatsApps so crucial pandemic decisions – including the Eat Out to Help Out scheme – can be scrutinised.

Rivka Gottlieb of the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK group said: “It looks like Sunak is protecting himself. It’s indecent to cover things up. I want every relevant person in government to be handing over WhatsApp messages.”

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said Labour would “hand over whatever is required” to the Covid inquiry if his party was in power.

“I’ll tell you for why – because many people lost relatives in Covid, many people lost their jobs and their livelihoods and they deserve answers,” he told broadcasters. “So I’ll be very clear – we would hand over whatever is required by the chair and we would do it having a mind for those that lost so much during Covid.”