Cuts and consequences

Brexit, argued Aditya Chakrabortty plausibly in a recent piece for the Guardian, is a consequence of the austerity measures forced upon the country by David Cameron and George Osborne - the referendum allowing "the victims of Osbornomics ... a chance to take their revenge". The fact that the pair shot themselves in the foot would be funny if it weren't for the current chaos consuming the country, the prospect of a no-deal Brexit and our bleak future outside the EU, not to forget the untold damage that the single-minded pursuit of a callous, ideologically motivated economic policy continues to wreak.

Take mental health, for instance. As Frances Ryan has detailed, not only have government cuts had a devastating impact on individuals' mental wellbeing by putting people under significant stress and strain and plunging more of us into financial woes, they have also decimated the services that exist to help those in distress and that were already stretched before demand increased. The Tories can blather on about tackling mental health more effectively, but that can't happen without resources - and in any case prevention is much better than cure.