George Osborne is trying to rewrite history on austerity’s harm

George Osborne’s has attempted to rewrite history at the Covid inquiry today (Tuesday), says the TUC.

He denied that austerity depleted health and social care capacity. He denied that the state of the social care system became worse in his time in office. And he denied that austerity has any connection to worse health outcomes for the most disadvantaged in UK society.

He also insisted that he created ‘fiscal space’, despite borrowing £200 billion more than expected in his 2010 budget.

The TUC says Osborne was responsible for fiscal failure because his austerity programme resulted in weak growth, a pay slump and less revenue flowing into the Treasury.

In an earlier evidence session, Oliver Letwin expressed regret at errors that the government made, which left the UK lacking in preparedness for a pandemic.

He also put the case for investment in areas like public health as part of preparedness, saying:

“It's typically much, much cheaper to prevent things, whether in the health domain or any other, than it is to deal with the aftereffects. We've just spent, I don't know what it is, the inquiry will find out, £350… £450 billion on the effects of Covid. We're talking about minuscule amounts by comparison with that, and it's well worth investing in advance."

TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak said:

“George Osborne is trying to rewrite history and gaslight the British public.

“Everyone can see the damage austerity did to the nation. From social care to schools and hospitals, our public services were decimated.

“Austerity disastrously slowed the UK’s economic recovery. George Osborne’s needless obsession with shrinking the state left us dangerously exposed to the pandemic – and we all paid the price.”