Economic experts have warned that the fiscal frameworks of the UK’s devolved governments must be made more robust to future crises and better able to support COVID-19 recovery. The research team – from the University of Stirling, Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) and Fraser of Allander Institute at the University of Strathclyde – found that the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish governments had “largely coped” with the economic pressures brought about by the pandemic. However, they attributed this to “luck, huge sums of money and ad-hoc bypassing of normal rules”. They also said that the devolved administrations had been fortunate that their nations had not been disproportionately impacted by the virus, compared to England, economically or health-wise. If they had been, funding for the devolved governments – which is based on how much is spent in England – may have been insufficient, they concluded.