Government interventions in response to Covid-19 make clear that the state can act as an extremely powerful guarantor of economic and health security. But has the crisis, and the subsequent governmental response, shifted voters' attitudes about the role that the government should play in society more generally? In a recent study, Tim Hicks, Tom O’Grady, and Jack Blumenau (UCL) examine whether the pandemic has led to a reversal of 'small state' ideology. To discuss the implications of their findings they are joined by Lord (Stewart) Wood, special adviser to Gordon Brown and Ed Miliband, and by Ailbhe Rea, political correspondent at the New Statesman.