United Kingdom government austerity programme

2021–present United Kingdom cost-of-living crisis
A foodbank donation point in Sainsbury's, Slough, in June 2022
Background
Austerity (2010–19, 2021–24) COVID-19 pandemic (economic impact) Global energy crisis, inflation and chip shortage Russian invasion of Ukraine (economic impact)
Industrial action
Concluded: Higher education (2018–23) Stagecoach (2021–23) Barristers (2022) British Telecom (2022) Scotland bin workers (2022) Postal workers (2022–23) Ongoing: National Health Service (2022–) Railway workers (2022–)
v t e

The United Kingdom government austerity programme was a fiscal policy that was adopted for a period in the early 21st century following the Great Recession. Coalition and Conservative governments in office from 2010 to 2019 used the term, and it was applied again by many observers to Conservative policies from 2021 to 2024, during the cost of living crisis. With the exception of the Truss ministry, the governments in power over the second period did not formally re-adopt the term. The two austerity periods are separated by increased spending during the COVID-19 pandemic. The first period was one of the biggest deficit reduction programmes seen in any advanced economy since the Second World War, with the emphasis on shrinking the state, rather than fiscal consolidation as was more common elsewhere in Europe.^[2]

The Conservative-led government claimed that austerity served as a deficit reduction programme consisting of sustained reductions in public spending and tax rises, intended to reduce the government budget deficit and the role of the welfare state in the United Kingdom. Some commentators accepted this claim, but many scholars have observed that in fact its primary, largely unstated aim, like most austerity policies,^[3] was to restore the rate of profit.^[4][5] Successive Conservative governments claimed that the National Health Service^[6] and education^[7] had been "ringfenced" and protected from direct spending cuts,^[8] but between 2010 and 2019 more than £30 billion in spending reductions were made to welfare payments, housing subsidies and social services.^[9]

There was no central function or risk assessment made to predict the impact of the austerity programme on services and budgets in the long term. There were however "big strategic moves" to protect groups more likely to vote Conservative, and make cuts elsewhere. This meant that the richest 20% of the population were largely protected, and the 2015 Conservative general election victory is credited to this tactic. During the second austerity period, a wider group than before were affected by the resulting cost-of-living crisis. This was connected to declining support for the Conservatives ahead of the 2024 general election, which resulted in a landslide defeat for the party.^[10][11] The Conservatives had planned further measures for after the election, some of which were leaked in advance.^[12][13]

The effects proved controversial and the policies received criticism from a variety of politicians, economists, and Anti-austerity movements.^[2][14]