In what was dubbed an “emergency budget” in June 2010, Chancellor Osborne slashed spending and raised VAT. The aim was to calm markets by committing to close the deficit by 2015.14 The argument in 2010 was “necessity.” But, as Neil Irwin later commented: “Britain . . . was embarking on something that has rarely been attempted . . . cutting spending and raising taxes in a preemptive strike against the risk of a future debt crisis.”
