[1andrew1]

Looks like the delays in locking down the country in Spring and Autumn to led this appalling economic situation. We look to be doing well on the vaccination front though so maybe we can come out of the situation earlier than our peers?

UK’s high Covid spending delivered worse outcomes than peers

Britain languishing near bottom of G7 tables both for economic performance and deaths caused by the virus

On Wednesday, the independent Office for Budget Responsibility said the UK’s economy was set to shrink by 11.3 per cent in 2020, while the government would need to borrow £394bn to fund a shortfall in taxes and £280bn in public spending to fight Covid-19.

Compared with the average of other G7 leading economies, the cost to the UK government is set to be over 80 per cent more, while the UK is also on course to suffer a 90 per cent deeper decline in economic output in 2020 and almost 60 per cent more deaths....

Nor did the heavy UK spending noticeably save lives during the pandemic, with the cumulative death total per 100,000 people from coronavirus at the bottom of the international league table. Only Italy recorded a worse performance on the wider measure of excess deaths.

Reviewing the data, Jonathan Portes, professor of economics and public policy at King’s College, London, said: “The errors came in locking down too late in March, allowing the virus to spread in care homes, and then delaying a second set of national restrictions well after most scientists and economists realised it was inevitable.”

Prof Portes added that there was also strong evidence of “wasteful and potentially corrupt procurement practices”, which was likely to “erode public and business confidence in the government’s strategy, making economic recovery harder”.

https://www.ft.com/content/1f52fd2b-...b-acc38f819b8d