The Political Legitimacy of the UK's Socio-Economic Crisis Management during Covid-19

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In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the UK Government as well as the devolved governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland adopted a wide range of measures to support businesses, employment, households and individuals. However, the extraordinary circumstances of the pandemic raised concerns about the legitimacy of the socio-economic crisis management in the UK and elsewhere. By considering the accountability of decision-making, efficacy of policy implementation and the effectiveness of different measures, this lecture draws conclusions about the input, throughput and output legitimacy of the most important economic and social measures to mitigate the impact of COVID-19. Marius Guderjan further reflects on the policy coordination between different the central and the devolved governments and draws comparisons with other European countries.

Dr Marius Guderjan is a Fellow at the Centre for British Studies at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and co-chair of the German Association for British Studies. Between 2023 and 2025, he worked for the LEGITIMULT (Legitimate Crisis Governance in Multilevel Systems) project at the Otto Suhr Institute of Political Science of Freie Universität Berlin. Marius was awarded his habilitation at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and his PhD at Manchester Metropolitan University. His research interests include intergovernmental relations, territorial politics, multilevel governance, European and British politics.