The study, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, found there were 334,327 excess deaths beyond the expected number in England, Wales and Scotland over the eight-year period.
The authors of the study suggest additional deaths between 2012 and 2019 – prior to the Covid pandemic – reflect an increase in people dying prematurely after experiencing reduced income, ill-health, poor nutrition and housing, and social isolation and it can be attributed to spending cuts to public services and benefits introduced by a UK government pursuing austerity policies.
Co-author Ruth Dundas, professor of social epidemiology at the University of Glasgow, said: “This study shows that in the UK a great many more deaths are likely to have been caused by UK government economic policy than by the Covid-19 pandemic.”
The paper, led by the University of Glasgow and the Glasgow Centre for Population Health, concluded that there was a “clear and urgent need” for such policies to be reversed and new strategies to be implemented which protect the most vulnerable in society. The findings come as the current Conservative government signalled major public spending reductions, including proposals to impose a real-terms cut to benefits for millions of working-age people.
Prof Gerry McCartney, professor of wellbeing economy at the University of Glasgow and a co-author of the paper, explained: “As the UK government debates current and future economic direction, it needs to understand, and learn from, the devastating effects that cuts to social security and vital services have had on the health of the population across the whole of the UK.”
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