Under-funding has been blamed for problems with the UK’s response to coronavirus – especially with regards to PPE – but “[Public Health England’s] budget for ‘protection from infectious diseases’ rose from £52 million in 2014/15 to £86.9 million in 2018/19” says Christopher Snowdon, Head of Lifestyle Economics at the Institute of Economic Affairs.

Writing for The Spectator, Christopher notes that “[t]here is no wider shortage of cash in public health. The amount of money spent on tenuous, policy-driven research alone is staggering. Public health academics were recently given £400,000 to study the drinking habits of football fans.”

Read the full piece here.

You can read Christopher’s report ‘False Economies: Myths about public health spending’ here.