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.

I had all this when my daughter was born in 2016. Remember breastfeeding groups and volunteers who would come to my house! Does it not exist anymore? No health visitors or baby weighing?

They spent more money than they had so yes, spending on nhs was great… but then we had a recession to recover from that spending.

My family’s personal experience was that dad got made redundant and signed on for the first time in his life only to find he was only entitled to £94 a fortnight for a family of 4 because dm worked too many hours (not based on her salary and the fact she worked as a TA in a school so only got paid for 44 weeks a year). This was in 1998/9. They also brought in tuition fees with very little warning so my brother’s year was the first year and they had less than a year to prepare. Yes there were student loans but for my parents who never had much but avoided debt other than their mortgage this was huge.

2007 house prices were spiralling upwards then they all went into negative equity.

I do believe that the economy is based on global factors and governments have limited ability to influence too much but get voted in or out depending on the economy. The media has far too much influence too largely telling us what benefits them and their owners rather than ever providing us with the full story.

I once read that Labour has great ideas but is terrible at seeing them truth and budgeting, conservative has less good ideas that largely benefit the rich and demonise the poor but they’re great at getting stuff done. We need the good bits from each. Controversially, I liked the coalition - Tory’s with conscience.

Yup. Billions spent on illegal wars in the middle east and the lives lost from British armed forces for nothing.

The NHS computer system was another labour brainchild. Though it never launched, the project ultimately cost the British government (and taxpayers) more than £10 billion.

Introducing university fees in 1997 was the first thing they did despite their manifesto being education education education

I got no tuition fees and maintenance grant and I was the last year to get it.

I was 15 in 1997 and this is what I remember of the next few years.

The economy seemed to be booming, and we were encouraged to “spend, spend, spend”.

The mid to late 90s was the era of “Cool Britannia”, and Britpop.

Thanks to EU membership, we were free to live, work and study in most of Europe. Many people did, especially 20-somethings.

The National Minimum Wage was introduced. Some companies protested it would bankrupt them, but by and large, it really didn’t.

University tuition fees were introduced. A kick in the teeth for young people.

The 10% tax rate for low earners was scrapped.

I watched in dismay as house prices rosé astronomically - and the government didn’t seem to care that most young adults could no longer get on to the property ladder.

I grew to hate New Labour. However they never deserved to be blamed for the Global Financial Crisis, which originated in the US.

I was young the and mental health wasn't even acknowledged, let alone had health care. GPs may have just thrown anti depressant pills at you if you were lucky but it certainly wasn't understood like it is today. Happier schools? Not saying schools are a peach today but schools were really shite then. My dc had a far better schooling experience in the 2010s then I did in the 90s/early 00s.

Sure start centres wasted an awful lot of money at the time. The idea was great and helped a lot of people but the money they'd waste was scary.

Tuition fees for uni were introduced under a labour government in the late nineties. I don't think they made uni cheaper!!!!

My brother is a GP and he was laughing all the way to the bank under the Tony Blair government.
Given a huge huge pay rise, the new contract said no weekend or evening work and they never even asked for all that!
He’s part time now along with all the other GPs in his practice, as he earns a lot of £££££ thanks to labour.
Not sure there’s a shortage of GPs just non that need to work full time.
No wonder the NHS is in a mess. We’ve got labour to thank for that.

Although I remember the last labour government giving away loads of free money. My kids are older teens and have child trust funds from that govt.

Exactly I got it free under the previous tory govt and I was the last year to get it. There was a stampede in 1997 of people who had taken a gap year deciding to go to university to avoid tuition fees starting

It was great but they were the grasshoppers who sang all summer and sold off all our gold at rock bottom prices. The conservatives inherited empty coffers.

This is true.
The labour governments of the 70s were very, very different and they led to Thatcher.
In fact I always voted Labour and 1997 seemed like a wonderful moment of optimism. Then Blair invaded Iraq and it went downhill. I struggled to vote Labour after that.
My natural home is really dead centre and Blair was that.
Unfortunately the last Labour government left a legacy of debt so great we still pay the price.
Starmer is a shadow of the leader Blair was but will get in.

Nope. No more sure start. No more well woman clinics.
Gordon Brown put in Sure Start. But he did sell off all our gold at an all time low.

There's a Sure start centre right opposite my house.

Then you would have been firmly in poverty without that Labour government. I was 12 when New Labour got in so old enough to remember life pre-1997; as the eldest child in a low income family it was bleak. My Dad was miserable working 6 or 7 days a week in a job that paid peanuts (pre-minimum wage), my parents just about managed to stay out of debt but it was hand to mouth and a lot of going without. I remember being cold a lot, though never hungry thankfully. Weirdly I also remember a lot of industrial disease at that time, uncles and grandfather's dying of lung cancer etc.

Then when Labour came in it was like the lights were switched on. Our household income went up (though some of that was Working Tax Credits which on reflection just helped to prop up a low wage economy), my elderly grandparents were better off than ever before and could actually get the healthcare they needed. My sibling, who has a chronic illness also got some impressive health and social care.

And me? I was identified as gifted and talented (despite my slightly ropey grades!) and was nurtured by my school to have the same confidence and aspirations as my more middle class peers, ultimately leading me to become the first (and sadly last) person in my family to go to university. I now have a masters degree and a professional career doing something I love. I often wonder what my life would have looked like if I wasn't one of Tony Blair's "Education, Education, Education" babies.

Labour lost in 2010 because they had become unpopular because of the war in Iraq which led to Tony Blair being replaced by Gordon Brown in 2007 but he didn't have the same charisma or personal touch as Blair and he also misread the mood of the country (for example he was picked up on a radio mic calling a woman who'd complained about immigration racist during the election campaign, which didn't go down well). Labour also lacked economic credibility because of the 2008 economic crisis (although with retrospect some argue that Brown handled this very well. Ultimately they'd been in power for 13 years and the longer a government is in power the harder it is to continue because they will always face setbacks and challenges in delivering their promises which harm their popularity.

In the meantime David Cameron had taken on the leadership of the Conservative party and was moving them to the centre, whilst presenting a younger, more energetic alternative to Gordon Brown. It's worth remembering that even though Labour suffered devastating losses in 2010, the Conservatives did not win the election outright and Cameron was only able to become Prime Minister after forming a coalition government with the Lib Dems.

(As an aside I can't believe that there are people old enough to be fully grown adults with their own children who can't properly remember a Labour government, but I did the math and you are right - I am just getting old!)

He did indeed

Famously, there was no money left at the end of the last Labour govt. hence the many years of austerity. The country was up to its eyeballs in debt.
Also Ed Milliband. Ed stood against his brother David to be the next leader. Ed won, though everyone thought David should have won.

I had a useless totally uneducated and alcoholic boyfriend during these years who was a 60k marketing manager for the NHS WITH London weighted accommodation in Nottinghill.

I remember when the government changed he was told to give uo his laptop and iPhone and got a brand new one of both. He was delighted .

Meanwhile his sister in law - a dr of nursing on a children ward , was two pay grades below him. I have no patience for NHS arguments anymore .

Start of decline of NHS with PFI.
£16 billion wasted by government on a NHS Fujitsu IT project.
An illegal war in Iraq
Stockmarket crash 2008
Gold reserves sold off by Gordon Brown .
And I actually voted labour.
However, I think the Conservatives are worse.
I am at a loss who to vote for in the next election.

The mantra of the Blair/Brown Govt was all about supporting "hard working families". No mention of hard working people without families. As a single hardworking person I felt overlooked and ignored.
Same Govt introduced "The Patient's Charter". Detailing people's "rights"regarding health care. No mention of responsibilities.
Lots of people a using the NHS for boob jobs, nose jobs , you name it.

Better than it is now......the scrapping of sure start was an absolute travesty, so many children benefitted hugely. My own disabled dc recieved early intervention which was life changing for them, that help isn't available now. It's sad to think how if they'd have been born a few years later it could have changed the course of their lives entirely.

Of course there have been strikes during the Tory governments, particularly this year, but the Unions have so much less power than they did in the Labour years, when their actions very negatively impacted the economy. They’re pretty much toothless these days, but the question is will that power be returned if Labour get in? I suspect it could be a very real threat when you have people like Angela Raynor in powerful positions - a great friend to the Unions and far left policies. Unions are a necessity for all workers, but they’re dangerous to economic growth if they have too much power.

I’m trying to remember what I can remember!

I remember Gordon Brown talking about Prudebce a lot and things looking really good financially. I remember in the 90s when Union Jacks were on everything and you had Labour MPs turning up at the Brits trying to be cool (and getting a drink thrown at them I think).

I remember the Iraq war under Tony Blair and the stock market crash after the Banks went under and suddenly we were very very skint and people were throwing themselves off top buildings in the city as they were being made redundant enmasse. Suddenly everyone wanted to be a teacher from memory as it was a safe public sector job.

Well, since then, the economy crashed, the music got shit, Brexit stopped opportunities in Europe, real wages have fallen, taxes have risen and house prices have rocketed.

I trust you hate the Tories more

My dentist went private during the Blair years and it was difficult to get a NHS dentist even then