Five years on, Covid has left Britain poorer and sicker

The UK’s economic response to the pandemic didn’t work.

That’s the takeaway from an Observer analysis that found the UK spent 36 per cent of GDP on loans, additional spending and forgone revenue – more than nearly every other developed nation – and in return suffered lower life expectancies, high levels of homelessness, 232,000 deaths and an increased number of people too sick to work.

An extra one million people are claiming disability benefits after Covid, and 2.7 million are economically inactive due to ill-health.

Britain has gone through a rougher time than many other nations, but the global financial picture is hardly rosy either.

Government debt has risen by 12 percentage points since 2020, and sovereign credit ratings are lower.

One bright spot: inflation is now on a downward trend.

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