The current form of austerity was introduced by the Conservative-Liberal coalition government that came to power in 2010. The world was still recovering from the aftermath of the financial ‘crash’ of 2008; the most significant global economic downturn since the Great Depression (1929–39). It is effectively a campaign of budget cutting designed to reduce the UK’s (at the time) unsustainable budget deficit. Although NHS and education spending was ‘ring-fenced’ spending was cut across all other areas of society.
As the then Chancellor George Osborne pronounced;
“The truth is that the country was living beyond its means…Today, we have paid the debts of a failed past, and laid the foundations for a more prosperous future.”
The Conservative and Liberal Democrat government also argued that austerity in government spending would enable a “BigSociety”. r
Reducing government bureaucracy would by this logic; empower civil society groups such as charities, grass-roots organisations and private companies to fill the void.
It was argued that this would help revive communities and deliver public services more efficiently.
However, austerity has had a powerful impact on every area of British society, and not in the positive way George Osborne envisaged.
