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.

poor money management led to financial crash 2008.

It was global and started in the US. Far from poor financial management, the excellent handling of it by Brown and Darling put us in a much better place than we’d have been otherwise.

We all got given £250 when we had a kid to invest in investment trusts. Ours has made £100 in 14 years. So much waste. I worry about the waste with new Labour gov. But then, I worry about the corruption at the moment. But that never changes.

So much waste.

What waste? It would take some doing to waste money at the rate of the Rwanda plan. Over £300 million at the last count. Or the £60 billion HS2 has cost.

Ah the mythical Tory fiscal management.

UK Debt 2023. £2.64 trillion. 100% of GDP.

UK Debt 2010. £1.08 trillion. 64% of GDP.

You can’t judge New Labour without looking at the landscape they inherited. The Tories were turning around a country post 1990 recession. So they got it in a good position in 1997. They had the money to play with. So they did. And then the crash in 2008.

What waste? There was loads!
https://amp.theguardian.com/politics/2000/jul/22/uk.parliament

Indeed. I’ve posted this at least twice now.

That doesn’t look like waste to me. And in the great scheme of things £4 million is peanuts.

14 years of Tory government

UK government debt has reached the highest level since the 1960s

7.6m NHS cases in England were awaiting treatment in December - an all time record

The UK's trend rate of economic growth has fallen since 2008

Business investment in the UK economy lags behind the G7

UK goods trade has fallen 15% below the G7 since Brexit

Tax revenues as a share of GDP are on track for a postwar high

Great Britain average weekly earnings in 2023 are below their 2008 peak

Almost 3m food bank parcels were distributed in the year to March 2023 - under Labour the number was practically zero.

Net migration at a record high.

Unemployment a record low so a tick for the Tories.

On every measure things are far worse under this appalling shower.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/mar/02/conservatives-economic-record-budget-deficit-gdp-tax-tory-budget?CMP=ShareiOSAppp_Other

So much better. I trained and worked as a midwife until recently. The care I could give women and families was far superior under the Labour government. Funding for support groups, actual proper support available which have been shown to massively improve outcomes. It wasn’t a utopia - there have always been issues of staffing even then. However, the Tory government have decimated public services. I finished working recently and there is literally nothing that can be offered to families. funding has been pulled from everywhere, staff unable to give any real standard of care despite working themselves to death.
Society felt better too. Less everyone out for themselves. More positivity, less hate.

We didn’t have social media

or just the beginnings

this sadly has deepened divisions in society, so much is polarised now

though not technically to do with Labour it’s just one point in how the political landscape has changed

Labour didn’t have to. They chose to. They could have stopped it, but didn’t.

That's true @jlpth but it was an affordable £3K.

The Tories/lib dems increased it from £3K to £9K at a stroke.

It was one of - if not the - first thing they did, iirc

The NHS was so much better, I had 5 operations through Choose & Book & never waited more than 2 weeks for the first consultation or for the operations. Everything happened spot on when they said it would, they were clean, the staff were amazing, the discharge process was quick, the drugs to take home were waiting as soon as I got back from theatre. You never had to wait more than 48 hours for a GP appointment, it was easy to find a dentist if you needed one.

Bringing in Tax Credits was so good for anyone on a low income or who had children, I worked for HMRC when they were rolled out & the claims were dealt with so well, we had a massive recruitment programme & got staff trained up quickly, we aimed to get everything right first time & in the main we did, in our office we were dealing with more than 4000 in person claims a week, 90% walked out with a giro as soon as they made their claim, this included nearly half who spoke little or no English, we had an interpretation service on speed dial who helped us enormously. We had a service at HMRC that was accurate, efficient, caring & helpful. 10 years later nobody could walk into a tax office as most offices have been closed down, everything is done in impersonal processing factories & it can take up to 2 hours to get someone to answer your call, you never get to speak to the same person twice & the chances are whoever you get to speak to has only done a week's training, not the months & years we did.

I watched a great youtube on a channel called Intelligence Squared. There was an author who wrote a book about how to fix society and Keir Starmer was a guest speaker on it. He came across very well.

I am one of those people who very much think all politicians are the same and have been upset by their stance on Gaza. What was striking was they do seem to actually have a plan to try and get this country out of this mess. It isn't going to be a quick solution, but the current state if things is not their fault (apart from not having a popular leader in 2019, although I liked JC personally). They seem more organised and because they actually have a decent ideology in the first place , they aren't pulling all sorts of batshit policies out of a hat to get votes because creating a better society has always been their goal. With the Tories it seems alien to them, which is why they are baffled why division and culture wars aren't working for them. The difference between how Keir came across in front of an audience against how Rishi does is like Night and Day.

Will I vote Labour? It really does depend on their policies on housing, healthcare, their plan for economic growth, welfare and schools, particularly SEN support. Those are what matter to me (not whether they know what a woman is).

Will I vote Labour? It really does depend on their policies on housing, healthcare, their plan for economic growth, welfare and schools, particularly SEN support. Those are what matter to me (not whether they know what a woman is)

I hope Labour will be more adventurous in their manifesto, i understand why they are not, the Tories will cherry pick the ideas they like.

I'll vote for whatever party will get rid of the Tory incumbent, they are a party for the well off.

Cameron claimed DLA, despite being a millionaire, then introduced changes to make it more restrictive once he stopped claiming, that says it all for me.

People keep referencing SureStart Centres were fantastic in Labour days but now are all gone due to the Tories. I'm too young to remember these centres but will they be due a comeback with Labour? I cant find any info to say they will return.

I had a quick google and if I read it right, they were one stop shops for disadvantaged people to get health advice, home visits, advice on how to manage life and it really helped with a child's behaviour up to age 5.

If they were such a boon to poor neighbourhoods, why were they stopped? It's not like they have to be rolled out everywhere. How much money would a couple of centres in deprived city centres (ok few more in London/Birmingham where there is lots of poverty) cost? Surely this can be afforded?

I remember being able to get through to the doctor's surgery by phone any day of the week, and being able to make an appointment for that same week, often within a couple of days.

I also had a health issue that was referred to a consultant and was seen within 12 weeks. A more recent issue took TWO YEARS on a waiting list.

They were a victim of austerity which was ideological slash and burn. We don’t know if a Labour government would restore them yet because we haven’t seen the manifesto and we won’t until an election’s announced.

ok thanks Blossom, they seemed like a real lifeline to some and I keep reading on MN that lots of people used them all the time, so hope they do consider returning them.

The last Labour government (Blair/Brown) was pretty good, particularly in comparison with the current shower of incompetence. But, for those with longer memories, the Labour governement before them (Callaghan) were absolutely f*ing awful.

I am a teacher. Teaching was a pleasure. It was well-funded. Lots of access to mental health support. Social services were well funded and available we had resources to teach. Moral and staff retention was high
Kids and staff mattered

The difference after was marked i eventually left teaching as it was almost impossible to continue

Two things the 1997 new Labour government did that changed the U.K. for the better

National minimum wage
Smoking ban.
Civil partnerships (which Cameron then brought in equal marriage on the back of)

These have had a hugely beneficial effect on so many peoples lives

Also as others have said
Sure Start
Investment in the NHS

I remember those as being really good years

Then Cameron got in and we had the bloody Brexit referendum and it's been downhill from there in my view to the point now where deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda is actually a serious policy of this government. I thought it was April fools when I first heard that one!

The Tory party is beholden to extreme right wing swivel eyed loons like Jacob Rees Mog and Suella Braverman. Even if I can stomach people like Cameron and Ken Clarke they always come with a side order of Nigel Farrage (who was a Tory before UKIP)

We claim DLA for my disabled son. We both work our arses into the ground as DLA is not enough for ine of us to even go onto decent part time hours, so yes our household income is ok (70k) but we are putting ourselves into an early grave for it. This means that money we do get can be spent on our son for his needs and not on bills. I really hope they don't means test it. I would just cut my hours then, but it would be totally to the detriment of my son as we then can't buy OT equipment, pay for care/respite or clothing he chews through. It's just a race to the bottom then isn't it? The children don't get any benefit from the money, which is what is intended. I would probably stop claiming if I was a millionaire though.

I will be voting tactically as I'm in a Tory area, but I think my area would vote Lib Dem before Labour. I need to check.

Has anyone watched these yet? Could be entertaining 😂

https://conflix.uk/