To ask what the country was like under a Labour government?

[user6776]

I'm too young to remember a proper Labour government. I was 12 when the Tories got voted in back in 2010 so that's all I've ever really known.

How much better was it than it is now? Why did Labour lose the election back then anyway?

Interested to hear people's opinions.

Better.

There was funding for schools. Sure start centres. More funding for inclusion and more spaces in Special Schools. Proper mental health care for young people. More teachers and happier schools.

Labour started the process of privatising the nhs. Very sneaky by the back door, trying to get staff to set up “social enterprises” and PFI buildings etc.

Sure start centres were amazing. I wish there were still around.

@FiveCows The bit you mentioned about more funding for inclusion and more spaces in SEN schools really hits home for me. My DS is autistic. I would love for there to be more support for him and other children like him.

Yes they were a lifeline when my twins were little. We had a toy library too 🥰

@dammit88 I vaguely remember having one near where I lived as a child, lots of people used it so I could never understand why it closed. It was a loss to the community from what I've heard.

I was on benefits when Labour were in. Every Child Matters was one of the policies.

You weren't charged interest if you needed a loan for a washing machine/cooker. You could even get a grant if you were in real poverty.

The DWP have always been awful but didn't hound you to your grave if they messed up your Government regulated benefits and overpaid you (never understand how it's MY fault I was overpaid when every single penny was a set amount that remained the same for years).

I didn't feel terrified of my own country the way I felt under the Tories.

Ah I am so sorry. Services are so poor now. And the threshold for help is so high. It’s so short sighted when early and consistent help for both the child and family can have such a positive impact.

I had small children and lived in London under Blair and it was great. So much support for families and refugees.

money for education.

it honestly felt like the world had changed for the better, but it hadn’t.

obv the Iraq war, but like would have tories have done anything different? NOPE !

fingers crossed !

Back then there were options for the government to invest a lot - do they invested in schools and hospitals. After many years of Tory government, it was a very hopeful time. They opened sure start centres and things felt positive.

However, they also did things like the PFI contracts that have shackled hospitals and schools to ridiculous and costly arrangements. They were by no means perfect.

It was very different to the current situation- the hope just isn’t there this time.

Cheaper to go to uni.
16-19 in education got EMA (£10-£30) per week means tested.

Life was better if you worked in the public sector, had children, or needed benefits.

Life was worse if none of the above applied. Plus the war in Iraq.

Labour had the advantage initially that they came into power as the economy was growing so they could afford to throw money at different initiatives.

Great short term domestic policies. Felt like there was more money, things worked properly, there was good social care for children and elderly.

But. The long term economic rumbles have been pretty awful. Labour introduced tax credits which has been a big factor in wage stagnation. Also PFI which boosted health services initially but are not good value now or looking to the future.

Foreign policy after 2001 was a fucking abomination and a tragedy that contributed massively to major global flashpoints still running today.

They were also bloody awful on housing.

Of course, this was New Labour. It's been a long long time since we had an actual labour government.

There was less street homelessness.

It seems like it's mostly positive then. So what changed in 2010? I just can't understand why we have endured 13 years of a Tory government, it's absolutely horrendous. I genuinely get anxious about the state of our country, everything seems so bleak right now.

There was a worldwide financial crash in the late 2000s and the banks got bailed out with public money in many countries including the UK. This was not popular. Gordon Brown and Labour were blamed here although it wasn't directly attributable to anything they'd done. We had an election with no clear outcome. The Tories didn't have enough MPs to get legislation through, although they had more than Labour. The LibDems agreed to go into coalition with the Tories and that was the start of austerity, which has seen our public services really badly run down for many years.

As for what life was like under Labour, better, on balance. They weren't perfect. There was a fair amount of sleaze and spin. That seems to happen with all governments. I think the Tories are generally worse, though, judging by various scandals in the 1990s and recent years.

Labour spent more on public services and they did far more borrowing. They got a lot of schools and hospitals rebuilt but they did it with PFI, which is extremely expensive. They introduced the minimum wage and tax credits which was a big help to many families, but in the long term employers should be paying enough for workers to live on, and Labour didn't force that issue.

I'm sure you remember being 10 or 11, and your family having enough money for you to eat well, new clothes when you needed them, nice toys for Christmas? That's what a Labour government was like - a decent standard of living for families with children.

Better. More optimistic. There was a genuine sense that even the most technocratic of the politics genuinely believed in society and in people, not just in it for themselves.

There were a few patrician Tories who had some of the same qualities, like your Dominic Grieves or Ken Clarke's. That the Tories sacked them right off with not even a hint of shame tells you just how far the rest of them are in it for themselves.

Boom then bust

And paying on credit with PFI

Ended due to Iraq war and the bust part

Sorry to be thick - what is PFI as people have mentioned here?

Not cheaper to go to uni than under the Tory government immediately preceding Labour though!

Private Finance Initiative. A way of paying for public spending without it showing up as government borrowing. Very expensive. Makes a lot of money for the banks so they love it.

@Brexile To be honest no. Neither of my parents had much money. We weren't in poverty, but we certainly didn't have a lot even back then.

Private Finance Initiative. Ie. Private money builds a new school or hospital and then rents it back to the government (or public body) for guaranteed long term returns. Massively abusive in practice as firms 'managed' buildings so they would charge £1200 to change a light bulb sort of thing.

Mostly bad contracting practice and agreements got renegotiated over time to challenge the worst of them, but still optimism over sense every time.