Britain had discussion about Austerity by different names for literally 500 years at least.
But the asserted poverty of the U.K. does not. In reality, the U.K. peaked in the mid 20th century. Its per-capita GDP lagged behind France from 1975 to 1998. There was a brief finance-driven rally from the late 1990s to the 2008 recession. But the overall pattern seems to be the U.K. having become a has-been European country, just like France, Italy, Spain, etc., since the mid 20th century.