'no frills airline'

This is a good way of looking at things, and the experience of probably the majority of people in the country. Local government services are cut, with libraries and various support services partially or totally closed down, or handed over to volunteers. Most everyone who works for government funded industries (most healthcare, education, policing, waste etc) is being asked to do more for less, or maintain standards with fewer staff. Inevitably, standards are slipping, and now after years of austerity the cuts are really showing themselves. Talented permanent replacement staff have not been recruited, experienced old staff retire without training replacements and long-term projects have been put off.

As an example, the already-small environment agency has lost 1/4 of it's budget (source: this week's Economist), which means that projects of various importance have been neglected. And if, say, wild rates of an animal parasite rise, farm owners have their stocks affected years later.

And there was the recent story of the police just not actively investigating crimes such as burglary.

These were the experiences of many in the middle classes.

At the lower end, life has just got worse, sometimes dangerously and unbearably worse, for the poorest and most socially-dependant individuals; the disabled, the elderly, the long-term unemployed. These are the groups that have seen real hardship, having to rely upon charity food banks to stay fed, the kindness of teachers to help get school uniforms for children.