Patrick Allen explains how austerity economics, not the recession, will destroy our civil legal aid system
In 2010, George Osborne presented an austerity budget to the House of Commons claiming that the country faced an economic crisis with an unsustainable public debt, then at 64% of GDP, and a huge deficit, and that this was the fault of the outgoing Labour government, which had caused the 2008 financial crash due to profligate public spending. The solution was painful but necessary cuts. If action was not taken Britain could end up like Greece.
None of this was true. The 2008 crash was a global banking crisis, which started in the US and spread to Europe and other western economies. It was caused by the relaxation of financial regulation which led to uncontrolled and unwise lending. The Conservatives at the time were actually in favour of even lighter touch regulation of the City.
Until the crash, borrowing under Labour had been at one of its lowest points since the war at 35%–40% of GDP despite the fact that they were undertaking major reconstruction
