Please list all the GOOD things the labour government have done ...

[spacedonkey]

i thank you

[spacedonkey]

for grammar curmudgeons, apologies for the "have" in the title

[Tinker]

Tax Credits

NMW

Working Time Regs/Fully signing up to Maastricht

Bank of England controlling interest rates.

[popsycal]

flexible working for paretns legislation????
erm...i am so not up on politics!!!

[beansprout]

Revoking ridiculous TU laws at GCHQ

[beansprout]

Ban fox hunting

[edam]

minimum wage
trade union recognition where employees want it
incorporating Human Rights into UK law
signing up to Kyoto (think that was this government?)

[vict17]

all fathers now get two weeks paternity leave, wish they would go one better and make it paid though

[MaryP0p1]

made childcare more affordable, made returning to work easier. bank of england/ interest rates.

[vict17]

Child Trust Fund too

[Bozza]

Universal nursery places for 3yos.
Extended paid and unpaid maternity leave.

[Bozza]

OAPs winter fuel allowance. IMO this it is a good thing that it is allocated towards.

[WideWebWitch]

wftc
paternity leave though they need to do MUCH more on it
min wage
working time regs
flexible working
edam, iirc (not 100% on this) according to The Ecologist they're trying to amend some of the Kyoto wording so the outcomes are not as specific/measurable. Not good

[motherinferior]

And kicked out the Tories, of course. An achievement which should not be forgotten.

[puddle]

In addition to what's been mentioned already....
Sure Start
Reduced primary class sizes and free fruit to primary children
work/ life balance stuff - flexible working for parents and carers etc
Equal age of consent for gay men
Free museum and gallery entry
Banned handguns
Increased overseas aid and debt relief (not enough but more than tories would have done)

[Newbarnsleygirl]

Aren't they supposed to be increasing maternity leave from 6 to nine months. I heard that on the news the other day. Also talking about longer leave for dads.

[serenequeen]

sorry, what have they done for flexible working? the right to "ask" - the employer can still turn you down.

[JoolsToo]

Er,????????????????????

oh alienated pacifists and country people

[Cam]

pass

[motherinferior]

Speaking as the former CND press officer, I can assure you that the Tories were not exactly flavour of the month in peacenik circles either.

[Gwenick]

but surely people aren't so naive as not to realise that Labour are announcing all these new things (higher NMW longer maternity etc etc) just to get votes?? If there was no election you can almost gurantee there'd be no talk of such things

[morningpaper]

Joostoo: I think they've alienated a very small number of country people...

[puddle]

Country people who support hunting Joolstoo. Plenty don't.

[morningpaper]

1. Lowest inflation since the 60s

2. Lowest mortgage rates for 40 years
3. Introduced the National Minimum Wage
4. Record police numbers in England and Wales
5. Cut overall crime by 30 per cent
6. Record levels of literacy and numeracy in schools
7. Best-ever primary school results
8. Funding for every pupil in England to double (since 1997) by 2007-08
9. Lowest unemployment for 29 years
10. Written off up to 100 per cent of debt owed by poorest counties
11. 77,500 more nurses
12. 19,300 more doctors
13. Brought back matrons to hospital wards
14. Devolved power to the Scottish Parliament
15. Devolved power to Welsh Assembly
16. Banned anti-personnel mines
17. NHS Direct offering free convenient patient advice at any time
18. New Deal - helped over a million people into work
19. Local government funding has increased by a third in real terms
20. Equalised the age of consent for gay men
21. Free entry to all national museums and galleries
22. Overseas aid budget more than doubled
23. Restored city-wide government to London
24. Child benefit up 25 per cent since 1997
25. Created Sure Start to help children from low income households
26. Introduced the Disability Rights Commission
27. £200 winter fuel payment to pensioners & extra £100 for over-80s
28. The biggest rolling stock replacement programme ever seen on our railways
29. Negotiated the historic Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland
30. Over 28,000 more teachers in England schools
31. Implemented the Freedom of Information Act
32. All workers now have a right to 4 weeks? paid holiday
33. Record rises in the state pension
34. 600,000 children lifted out of relative poverty
35. Introduced child tax credit giving more money to parents
36. Banned handguns
37. Cut long-term youth unemployment by 75 per cent
38. Free nursery places for three and four-year-olds in England, Scotland and Wales
39. Free fruit for all four to six-year-olds at school
40. Free school milk for five, six and seven-year-olds in Wales
41. Record police numbers in Scotland
42. Implemented the Human Rights Act
43. Cleanest rivers, beaches, drinking water and air since the industrial revolution
44. Free TV licences for over-75s
45. Banned fur farming and the testing of cosmetics on animals
46. Halved maximum waiting times for NHS operations
47. Free local bus travel for the over-60s and the disabled in Wales and Scotland
48. Record number of students in higher education
49. Extended the Race Relations Act so that all public bodies and functions now have a duty to promote race equality
50. Five, six and seven-year-olds in class sizes of 30 or less

[Newbarnsleygirl]

I agree Gwenick. It's exactly what I thought when I heard it.

[Bozza]

But Gwenick it has already increased from 18 weeks paid when DS was born in 2001 (plus option of 40 weeks in total) to 26 weeks paid when DD was born in 2004 (plus option of 52 weeks in total).

Although I agree that they are of course electioneering.