Saw this interesting piece from across the pond posted on Facebook. www.nytimes.com/2018/05/28/world/europe/uk-austerity-poverty.html.
It really seems to sum up the effects of austerity. I know it was ostensibly done to deal with the large deficit but there's no denying that the overall effect has been in line with the Conservative ideal of a shrunken state.
From the article:
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For a nation with a storied history of public largess, the protracted campaign of budget cutting, started in 2010 by a government led by the Conservative Party, has delivered a monumental shift in British life. A wave of austerity has yielded a country that has grown accustomed to living with less, even as many measures of social well-being — crime rates, opioid addiction, infant mortality, childhood poverty and homelessness — point to a deteriorating quality of life.
Incidentally, the deficit has now shrunk massively, so can we see an end to budget cuts? Has Brexit knocked that on the head?