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We need to take on the Tory claim that public investment is unaffordable 
RICHARD BURGON MP says we need to prevent the Tories from using this crisis to push another era of damaging austerity

WATCHING David Cameron and George Osborne at the Covid inquiry claim that austerity did not leave the NHS weaker ahead of the pandemic was like being thrown back in time 10 years. 

The evidence is totally clear. Austerity left our whole society weaker — with reversals in life expectancy for many communities, 300,000 excess deaths due to austerity and the undermining of many of the vital services that bind our society together and make people’s lives better.  

It also severely undermined our economy. One of the key lies of Cameron and Osborne throughout the austerity years was that an economic crisis meant we could not afford to make the public investment necessary. Worryingly, that damaging logic seems to be back in fashion. 

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