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The UK government did, for all intents and purposes, choose austerity after the pandemic: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_government_au....

They most certainly did

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_government_aust...

What they didn't do, unlike PIGS, was also tough reforms which are paying back now

https://www.reuters.com/breakingviews/flying-piigs-nations-s...

The Conservative party used austerity rhetoric as a way to win votes, but they did not cut spending other than reversion to the mean after the high spending around 2008.

See here for international comparison of government spending as % of GDP (the second figure showing trends over time), UK is not an outlier:

https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/exp@FPP/USA/GBR/CZE/...

Can you explain how your link supports your argument?

The conservatives ran austerity-based policies for the last 14 years. Is your argument that they did not have a choice?

Have you seen the national debt under the conservatives? It's massively increased.