James Meadway contends that the British government's persistence with austerity, despite historically low interest rates and economic needs, has damaged national infrastructure.

“We had governments that said, "We must not borrow money. This is the one thing we must not do. We must do austerity." So it's not just cuts to the welfare budget and lots of parts of public spending, local authorities, the judicial system, and all sorts. It's also cuts to infrastructure spending.”

The state's reduction of funding for public services like addiction support and refuges has led to prisons acting as a public service of last resort.

“we've got a housing shortage and what we see prison doing is almost acting as a as a public service of last resort where people have not had the support they need and, you know, women who should be in a refuge bed are in a prison cell.”