Who broke Britain?

[User32459]

Who do you most blame for our downfall as a nation?

A) Tony Blair and New Labour (97-2010)

B) The Tories (2010-2024)

C) The current Labour government

D) Brexit and Nigel Farage's lies

I think the answer is all of the above and the current government are an absolute disaster, but to be fair to them they've come in at the end when the damage is done. It's not 1997 anymore when they can get away with Blairite policies.

Labour have a lot to answer for but i'd probably go B. The Tories just about got everything wrong. Did they do anything good at all? And ultimately their shocking governance led to Brexit as well.

And the failures of the lot of them will need to Nigel Farage as Prime Minister.

Right so now it's not Europe, it's EU.

Ok, Romania

Blaire. Without a doubt.

In my opinion, the eastward expansion of the EU in the late 1990s and early 2000s was the biggest mistake. The UK was flooded with cheap labour, and Tony Blair did not seeing it coming. His government thought the numbers would be low, yet people came in their millions because they could earn far more in the UK than at home. It was a huge boost to the economy at the time, but the long term price has been high. I still think it will all work out eventually.

It shows how far we've fallen when posters compare the UK to Albania and Serbia.

What long term cost? many went back to their home countries.... we have let in far more unskilled dependents from SE Asia and Africa in more recent years than Blair did with East Europeans.
Our local hospital lost most of its EU workforce, as did care homes and community care.... look at the Polish economy? GDP per capita growth is 6% pa.. the UK's is falling off a cliff.

Net immigration under Blair was around 200k to 240k pa.... since 2021 its been anywhere between 600k and 1m pa, almost all from Asia and Africa.

This, as we can see from the popularity of Reform and increasingly right wing rhetoric from other main parties, is causing a great deal of concern among the general pop.

I guess the cost was Brexit? I don't think nearly as many people would have voted Leave if Britain hadn't had such a huge influx of workers from Eastern Europe.
I say that as a Remain voter who loathes racism and thinks immigration is a net positive.
But, also, no point pretending that Polish builders etc didn't increase competition, and reduce wages, for British builders. The same applies for many other workers. It also definitely led to house price rises and worsened the housing crisis. These things just can't be denied. I don't think it was well managed, which led to resentment among many, which was exploited by Farage and co.
Obviously it's the elites, corrupt politicians, billionaires, bad landlords etc who are making life difficult for low paid workers, not immigrants. But, that time was mismanaged and Brexit was the ultimate consequence sadly. Which ironically has increased grocery prices and made life harder still 😔
I do think it all leads back to Thatcherism. It paved the way for all these things, and led to conditions that ultimately led to people voting for Brexit.

@Alexandra2001 ”what long term cost?”

The long term cost is it made the UK dependent on cheap labour – which means everyone’s wages stay low, which in turn means there’s no incentive for companies to make investments. As companies compete with each other, they all have to operate in this way whether they employed cheap foreign labour or not. If they didn’t they’d just go out of business. It forces the whole economy downwards.

Car washes are the classic example. Pre-immigration flood they were automated drive-thrus with those whirling brushes; today they’re a shipping container in a lay-by.

It’s also why Brexit played out as it did. Presumably those in favour wanted a rebalancing to give British workers their bargaining power back. But ultimately the political classes judged that it would be too painful to force a switch back to a higher-wage economy, so they opened the floodgates instead. And now here we are.

Thatcher created the need for the expanded welfare state. Her economic policies shrunk the UKs manufacturing capability and export base resulting in vast areas of the UK with very limited employment which still persist today.

Thatcher.
No care for communities devastated by pit closures. An attitude of every man for himself and no thought of creating a community of support and responsibility to each other. Privatisation of everything with profit going to firms outside the UK.

Well, research shows that the GFC in 2008 was the start of lower wages, we had nr 0% interest rates and sub 2% inflation, we then had a Govt that froze or gave 1% public sector pay increases... private sector followed...

Meanwhile we have seen company profits boom since the GFC.... so it was a choice we made to pay very little.

Austerity seems to be as much a driver for Brexit as anything, just as continued Austerity is driving people to Reform.

Nothing works in the UK anymore, the Tories caused it eg our roads weren't a potholed mess in 2010.......

Labour don't seem to have any ideas on how to fix it ...

So we'll try another party.... the logic being "they can't be any worse...."

Oh yes they can.