Who broke Britain? Welcome to The i Paper’s opinion series in which experts and writers debate the issues that concern them about modern Britain. • Martin Lewis: the money-saving expert… who accidentally cost Britons billions• The American woman who ripped the heart out of Cadbury• The slum king who showed British landlords how to get rich without working

Who broke Britain? Welcome to The i Paper’s opinion series in which experts and writers debate the issues that concern them about modern Britain.

• Martin Lewis: the money-saving expert… who accidentally cost Britons billions• The American woman who ripped the heart out of Cadbury• The slum king who showed British landlords how to get rich without working

It was in Gloucestershire at the 2009 Conservative Party Spring Forum that David Cameron made an announcement about where he and his shadow chancellor, George Osborne, were headed.

“The age of irresponsibility is giving way to an age of austerity,” Cameron declared. And, in the years that followed after the Tories entered government in 2010, as has been well-documented and debated, billions of pounds were cut from both the welfare state and local government.

However, Osborne made another decision during this time. A decision that is far less discussed. A decision that, expert economists have told me, was a mistake that may have brought the tough times upon Britain that we are experiencing today.

That decision was not making greater use of the ultra-low interest rates that were available after the 2008 financial crisis to borrow to invest in infrastructure, particularly affordable housing.

Social housing and housing for market sale are often discussed as being totally separate. In fact, they are intrinsically linked. And Osborne’s decision not to boost social and affordable housing had a knock-on effect on the private market because it kept the number........

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