Austerity: How hawkish positions have killed nations

To begin to understand what austerity is, it would be prudent to understand the definition of austerity. Austerity is a set of political-economic policies that aim to reduce government budget deficits through spending cuts, tax increases, or a combination of both. There are three primary types of austerity measures: higher taxes to fund spending, raising taxes while cutting spending, and lower taxes and lower government spending. Most conservative governments, with their financial hawkish policies, have often opted to do the third type of austerity measures - which has disastrous impacts on the people - and has often killed nations; quite literally.

Spain

One of the most hawkish austerity policies was implemented in Spain in the wake of the financial crisis. In the 2011 Spanish general election, the first election post-economic crash, the incumbent centre-left Partido Socialista Obrero Espanyol (PSOE) or Spanish Socialist Workers Party was swept out of power in dramatic fashion, in a landslide, by the centre-right Partido Popular (PP) or “Peoples Party”. The PP, under the leadership of Mariano Rajoy, implemented fiscal hawkish policies and introduced austerity, and labour market reforms in an attempt to stabilise and reduce Spain’s national debt. Salaries of civil servants were frozen, rent assistance to younger folks were abolished and minimum wage froze for the first time in 1966. 

However, they kept this policy of austerity until Rajoy was ousted from power in 2018 and the impacts on the population was severe. During the period of austerity, the unemployment rate hit 26%, which was even greater than the US unemployment rate during the Great Depression. It hit working class folks the hardest. Not only were they probably the first ones to lose their jobs and couldn’t afford it whatsoever, they were also not in a position to pay prices for private healthcare. With the public healthcare system so severely defunded, the mortality rate soared and many more people died - than if austerity was not implemented. 

The fallout of Spain’s austerity can still be felt today. In the wake of austerity measures being implemented, the anti austerity movement of 2011 and 2012, remembered as the “15M protests”, formed the Podemos or “We Can” party and united with other leftwing parties to form Unidas Podemos or “United We Can”, at least in the short term, that culminated to the political instability we see today. Another by-product of austerity measures, was the rise of independence sentiments, particularly in Catalonia - which has only fuelled more political instability - not only regionally in Catalonia with the illegal independence referendum, but also nationally as the current government is being propped up by Catalonian separatists. The last by-product of austerity measures was the rise of the first far-right, fascistic party of VOX since the return to democracy after the death of General Franco. VOX was initially founded as PP breakaways due to the PP’s lacklustre economic policies and weak response to separatists in Catalonia and the Basque country.

United Kingdom

During the same time when Spain was fighting their economic issues, so too was the United Kingdom. After 13 years of New Labour under Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, the financial crash in 2008 made folks elect a Conservative plurality in the next election in 2010. Them, together with the Liberal Democrats formed the government and that 5-year period was known as the “coalition government” period. The coalition government and subsequent Conservative governments until the recent 2024 elections implemented a series of harsh austerity policies on the British public. 

Just to highlight how bad austerity was for the British public, an article published by the Guardian in 2018 came out with damning evidence. According to published figures from the Office for National Statistics in 2018, Britain’s improvement in life expectancy has slowed at the fastest rate of any leading industrialised nation other than the land of capitalism and freedom of enterprise themselves, the United States. Between 2011 and 2018, the rate of improvement of life expectancy for men has collapsed by over three-quarters and 91% for women. For decades, life expectancy steadily rose in Britain: and then, suddenly, just as the Conservatives took power and imposed these brutal policies of austerity, this improvement essentially stopped. The NHS suffered the longest squeeze in its funding as a share of the economy since it was founded after the war. Its annual increase in funding in the first four years of Conservative rule was 1.3%, despite growing patient demand and increasing healthcare costs. As Dorling and Basten note, between the start of the conservative-led government in 2010 and 2018, many care homes – all too often a privately run racket – have closed; and cuts to social security, not least disability benefits, have undoubtedly played a role. There are other chilling factors at play, too. Until the financial crash, Britain’s suicide rate had been falling. Since then, experts believe there could have been an extra 1,000 deaths from suicide and an additional 30,000 to 40,000 attempts, with austerity playing a role.

Just by using these two countries alone, austerity can and has hurt many people - chief of which were and still are the most vulnerable in society, which has led to increased mortality rates. There are many like these two that have suffered similar fates across the world. As it is shown, there is irrefutable evidence that austerity hits the common man, much more than the upper classes. Say no to austerity and stand up for the common folk!