Successive governments “seem to have settled on a position in which the state lives modestly beyond its means in the good times and greatly beyond its means in the bad” and the economic response to the coronavirus pandemic has merely cemented that, says Mark Littlewood, IEA Director General.

Writing his fortnightly column for The Times newspaper, Mark adds that “private sector workers might reflect too, that calls for a continuing spirit of national unity are hard to take seriously if those in the public sector, who typically command higher remuneration and enjoy much greater job security, are being largely insulated from the real-world effects of a downturn.”

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