Who was the last government you were happy with?

[WhiteTilesWhiteGrout]

Following on from another thread, it seems that whenever it comes to UK parties, nobody is ever happy. Even those who are siding with - say - the Tories or Labour, are not very happy with them.

So if the party you are planning to vote for in the next elections wins, will you actually be happy with what they'll do? When was the last time you were happy with the party in power?

Because it seems that no matter who's running the country, people are never happy.

I am most people I know were horrified by the 1997 Blair government's destruction of the welfare state. It had terrible effects on so many lives.

They did good things too, e.g. alleviating child poverty and homelessness, banning corporal punishment in schools, ending the death penalty, establishing Sure Start...

Definitely Thatcher.

Blair and New Labour for me.

I threw a party when Thatcher died. 🥳

The Blair government delivered more for ordinary people than any government since Atlee.

Blair and New Labour. I worked in the nhs in mental health. I remember the sense of hope and optimism the day after the vote. And then things started to happen. It made a huge difference.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

💯 the Blair years and Labour working in the NHS was great! You felt well paid had great annual leave felt supported and constantly being updated. Those were the days!

Since the Tories got in, it was straight to austerity measures and they've never lifted.

Those austerity measures have only helped fat cats. No one else.

I will never understand why Nick Clegg allowed the referendum on PR to be watered down into a referendum on AV (which is NOT a PR system). You’re right - it should have been a deal-breaker for the Lib-Dems.

Now, not only do we not have proportional representation in the UK, but many people are convinced that we were offered PR and turned it down. Thanks a lot, Nick Clegg.

1997-2001 and maybe a little beyond. Such an optimistic feeling and the Lobour party policies seemed to chime with my stage of life then - starting a young family. We were a dual income household on faitly static salaries, yet still found we were better off with each set of budget announcements.

Now a single parent on a very low income and any small gains I manage to make have been swallowed by the static tax threshold during this Tory administration. Public Services are being obliterated and my older children (now adults) have had their freedom to live and work in Europe removed, yet cannot see they will ever be able to afford to buy or even rent a home in the UK. It's a shambles.

Blair is the reason we ultimately got Brexit though, the repercussions of his decisions was the turning point that started us down the Brexit path which people like to conveniently ignore.

Blair’s decision to immediately open the labour market to A8 nationals (we were only 1 of 3 member states that did that) is where things started to go wrong; it was predicted that only 5000-13000 people would enter but the actual number was over 20 times the upper estimate which is what started the discussions over the lack of control over our borders etc. The ensuing repercussions of such a large influx of people into our society is what started the anti EU / anti freedom of movement sentiment in the first place which then grew each year as the numbers continued to rise.

To give some context, in 1995 only 3% of the British population cared about immigration but by 2015, that number had risen to 56%.

Prior to Blair’s decision in 2004, net-migration from EU countries to the UK was relatively small and no one gave a shiny shit, that was the turning point.

Instead of going the nuclear brexit option why not reverse that decision?

Blair’s government didn’t offer a brexit referendum. That was Cameron’s. That’s where the blame should be.

i remember the night of brexit vote counting. As results were coming in farage was already saying he wanted another referendum as this one wasn’t going his way. And yet remainers has to accept the result!

Another vote for 1997 and Blair. It was the year I graduated and had a long summer then got my first proper job, and I was loved up and happy and life felt better and easier. Probably just my circumstances and nostalgia about that age. I couldn’t stand Blair by the end of his term, mind you.

Someone needs to shake things up and make us feel good about ourselves and our country again, a la 1997!

I’m with you re 1997-2001. The earlier one I don’t really remember.

1997-2001 was incredible.

Even after that they were good domestically. Life genuinely improved.

The run up to them getting in was different to how things are now though. Everyone knew they would win and were looking forward to it. Now we all know Labour will win but I don't know anyone who's particularly hopeful about it, just desperate for the tories to go.

Blair and New Labour they did so much for the country especially surestart.

Agree that what happened with North sea oil proceeds was a travesty. Look at where Norway is now, what they've done with their part of the money. That could have been us. Most of us never felt any benefit from it at all, might as well never have had it.

And also introduced privatisation by the back door.

”social enterprise”, PFI’s, all under labour.

our hospital even gave seminars on how we could effectively form private entities and contract ourselves back to the NHS.

If you notice, I didn’t say Blair was to blame for Brexit, I said his decisions were the turning point that first started us down that path, all you have to do is look at the statistics so to deny that would be disingenuous; that doesn’t mean I’m not saying that subsequent governments didn’t do anything wrong nor am I absolving them of the part they played.

This isn’t a movie where there are “goodies” and “baddies” for goodness sake, it’s perfectly acceptable to acknowledge what all sides did right or wrong and to look at the timeline of events that contributed to certain outcomes because nothing happens in isolation. In theory, analysing something critically is how we learn and avoid repeating the same mistakes.

Ed Milliband changed the course of history by stepping up. David Milliband was a cert for PM.

The media has a big part to play imo. Stirring up hatred for immigrants and the EU.

Agree though every decision has consequences. The government should be looking at these, intended or not. A bit of joined up thinking would help.

@KnittedCardi sorry but I don’t agree. I too was born in 1966 and thought Thatcher was disastrous. Most of the idiots in the Tory party are in thrall to her free market on steroids philosophy, just even more extremely. The state of the country in 1997 was abysmal and is now because of her legacy. Many of my family were miners in south Yorks. Their communities were left to rot for years partly because of the Thatcher/Tory government and NUM/Scargill….both cheeks on the same arse.

Absolutely this.

Without it (and Labour's implosion in the early 80s) Thatcher would have been kicked out like Truss was by her own party (and nearly was in her first term). Her economics were a disaster for most people but north sea oil proceeds and selling off the family silver, allowed her to do it. That was a one off though which Truss and all Thatcher's disciples don't get. It was the ultimate magic money tree but tragically wasn't used to benefit the country but to benefit the rich and screw the poor.

So many social problems we see today - and economic - are the consequences of that era.