To think that a lot of people have forgotten, or did not know, that..

[FelicityFlops]

When New Labour was elected in 1997, Chancellor Gordon Brown explicitly stated that the economy, i.e. what they had inherited in fiscal terms, was in a very good state and he had no plans to change this.
Cue massive increases in public spending and selling off the UK's gold reserves.
Happy to be corrected on this, but is this not where the economic downturn started and the rise of dependency on benefits began?
Or, in very simplistic terms, if you inherit a sum of money and some assets, you spend them instead of conserving them or using them to promote future welfare?

Oh look! A windmill!

www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-the-uk/the-labour-party-is-britains-lost-opposition

Yes I agree it was not brilliant - started by John Major btw - but Labour had to find a way to support an NHS and schools, at the point of collapse due to years of tory poor management and funding - maybe they would have solved the issues down the road if they had remained in power - I'm no fan of the idea but the conservatives expanded it and made it global!

do you have your own views or do you just cut and paste google links?

OP what you say is nonsense. The benefits culture started in the 80s when the conservative government were responsible for mass unemployment after closing the steelworks and mines. When the labour government took over in 97 they had go deal with years of run down public services. Schools and hospitals were falling down and unemployment high.
I remember those times and they were terrible. At one point in the 90s I remember our mortgage interest rate was 16%. and there was a freeze in public sector pay for years.

OP have you read a paper since 2007?

This

I was 7 in 1997. I have distinct memories of my mother who is not at all political, telling me we had to vote the Conservatives out and the relief she seemed to feel the day after the election. I don’t think any government won a landslide off the back of the previous government doing a great job 👍

The Icelandic bank collapse was about three weeks after Lehman Brothers went down and thus, shoddy as the Icelandic banking sector was, I don’t think it can be blamed here.

Be honest though - constantly going on about what Labour did wrong is just a way of distracting from the fact that the tories have been in power for 12 years - and it's a fucking mess - not for their mates - the rich but for most ordinary working people - not that they give a shit

But 20 years ago Labour did blah blah blah

YOU ARE IN POWER - this is on YOU!

Remember Blair walking out to the tune of 'Things Can Only Get Better?' He chose that one for a reason...

By 2007, PFI deals had been entered into whereby the private sector had stumped up £68bn, leaving the taxpayer on the hook for repayments of £215bn.
When the banks needed bailing out shortly afterwards, the Chancellor or the Treasury could have made limiting the payouts on these deals part of the price for pumping in hundreds of billions - they didn't.
In years to come Kwasi Kwarteng may come to be viewed as a hero for alerting us to the fact that pension companies have been playing fast and loose with derivatives that could bankrupt the industry - journalists, MPs and the governor of the Bank of England who was prepared to spend £65bn to bail them out seem tight-lipped on the subject.

Ed Miliband feels that the UK taxpayer should give much more to countries affected by climate change, Boris Johnson pledged unlimited support for Ukraine. I've not seen much about supporting hard-pressed UK taxpayers, so much easier for politicians of all hues to dream of money trees.

You'll get nowhere with this on MN, not on message for the majority, but in addition Brown was also guilty of the massive pension raid. Since then, or starting during Brown's tenure, there have been a number of global extraordinary events, the 2008 collapse was the beginning, which have contributed to the difficulties the UK and many other countries are experiencing.

@FirstHusband couldn't Kwarteng have 'alerted us' by just writing an article or something??

It was a part of the 2008 crash partially triggered by the American sub-prime disaster and can't be ignored because it doesn't suit.

They'd blame the Labour government of 1948 for forming the NHS if they could!

Yes - 12 years of Tory misgovernment have reduced the UK to a shit show, yet they blame Labour or even Corbyn who was never even a Prime Minister. Pathetic.

In housing they did quite a lot, bringing council homes up to standard. I think spending money in a strong economy on things that will increase employment in the construction industry is a good thing- don't you OP?

" One of Labour’s greatest legacies, however, was its pledge to make all social homes warm, weatherproof and with reasonably modern facilities under its new decent homes standard, which launched in 2002. Landlords were given until the end of 2010 to get their properties up to scratch.
The state of social housing was in such a ‘terrible mess’ when Labour came to power that many in the housing world swore it couldn’t be done, Mr Orr recalls. The scale of the challenge only made the decent homes programme all the more ‘amazing’, says Sarah Webb, chief executive of the Chartered Insititute of Housing. ‘Accepting that government intervention was needed to turn this situation around showed real leadership and state support at its best."

Lol at Tori troll bots being forced to invoke what happened 25 years ago as an excuse. talk about scraping a hole in the bottom of the barrel. Like the conservative party have only been in government for 12 years, they’ve just not had enough time yet… I mean this post would be pathetic even if it was accurate…

Was just about to type out something very much like this. The country Labour was elected to rule in 1997 had been ruined by years of Conservative policies.

Think that’s exactly what they’re saying. FFS!

And labours bots appear to be…American?
faukts are all round, but globally food and fuel prices have increased.

Anyone else getting really bored with these ridiculous threads? It’s so tedious having your intelligence insulted by Tory interns.

The credit crunch was worldwide not just the UK. It was down to banker's doling out 100% mortgages and being able to buy on credit so easily without thinking of the consequences of paying it off. Though the economy was booming a lot of the population were left with massive debts.

The likes of bright House that sold cheap flat pack bedroom furniture that when you worked out the total cost it was at least £800 you were paying off for something you could pick up at Argos for £100-£200.

Labor did a lot of good things that people seem to have forgotten about. They introduced sure start which reduced the number of children going into care. So also saving money to keep those children in care.

The NHS was properly funded. I never had to wait years for a diagnosis for my SN children. We had a portage worker and NAS early intervention program and the facilities at the mainstream nursery for SN was fantastic. We weren't in the mess we are in now with the NHS.

Meanwhile at DoSAC

'Okay Stewart we'll back off Mumsnet now - Phil was totally obvious - again'

er.....I think you have rather lost yourself here. The point when gold reserves were sold was when the rather wonderful period under Blair and then initially with Brown changed dramatically when the USA began the international down turn in economies. It was worldwide....it wasnt a Labour initiative and certainly has absolutely nothing at all to do with the present situation.

If you look at what has happened in the recent interim, Brexit and Covid...which both impacted the economy massively. I recall Theresa May saying there wasnt enough money in the coffers to give nurses a pay rise....that was before billions were spaffed against the wall by the Tories giving their 'pals' contracts to produce goods they had never produced before...and failing miserably in trying to produce them....but not giving the money back.

Brexit has had an enormous impact on our economy. We are now performing worse than the other EU countries and our economy is on a par with Russia....ie. failing. The Bank Of England has made it clear this is going to be a long, painful period. Not the least surprised....only surprised that people continually vote Tory. The assumption has always been that because the Tories generally are all about money and wealth....that they are more fiscally competent. However, if you actually bother to follow these things...and check the economies for governments for the last 100 years, Labours economies have always been more prudent and have been better overall for the country.

So bottom line, no....you are not correct.