From the Center for European Reform, this is the CIA podcast.

Poson us seriously the question of the

future that we want, and we all

all together to the courage to it

for us in Germany. For us in Germany,

is the bequendness to the

European Europe, a part of our

state's resolve. A strong United Europe is a necessity

for the world because an integrated Europe remains vital

to our international order. This is the moment for Europe world because integrated Europe remains vital to our international order.

This is the moment for Europe to lead the way towards a new vitality.

Welcome to the Centre for European Report podcast, everybody.

My name is John Springford. I'm deputy director of the CEO.

Today we're going to talk about Britain, but you'll be glad to hear not about

Brexit, or at least only tangentially about Brexit. Jonathan Portez, who's Professor of Economics

and Public Policy at King's College London and a senior fellow at the UK and a change in Europe think tank is

with us. Jonathan, welcome. Thanks for having me. Absolutely pleasure.

Jonathan is a senior civil servant in the Treasury and the Department of Work and Pensions in his

former life. And so we thought he'd be the perfect person to talk a bit about the future of the

UK economy, state more broadly. And the way that I thought we could structure our conversation

is to talk about three things. The first being how the British state coped with the pandemic

and the extent to which the austerity program that preceded the pandemic was a part of that.

...