The NHS crisis is an inevitable consequence of a decade of Tory austerity that weakened the state's capacity to respond to challenges.

“This is not some unfortunate series of events it's the inevitable result of a decade of Tory austerity that's steadily weakened the state's capacity to respond to shocks”

He defends his previous support for austerity on the grounds that Britain would have faced severe financial trouble during the COVID-19 pandemic if it had borrowed significantly more at that time.

“I the I think the defense is that I think that Britain wasn't in the position to borrow significantly more and spend significant anym and if we had we would have been in real trouble when Co hit”

Austerity policies are not about spending less but are a form of government intervention that shifts resources from the majority to the wealthy.

“Austerity is the government selecting where it spends. It spends against people in favor of those private businesses they incentivize, invest, and and protect. And of course, the military-industrial complex, surveillance, those are perfect because they don't empower people, but they boost economic g”