Politics Today

[elginCity]

If Labour can be faulted for anything it was adopting Tory policies…..

And its goals. Between ‘97 and ‘01 Labour ran a structural surplus - the cornerstone of fiscal conservatism is a balanced budget. You’d never read about that in the Daily Mail !

 

[tavyred]

Yep. Again there wasn't serious overspending prior the the banking crash.

View attachment 11650

Spending as a % of GDP increased by a not inconsiderable 5% between 1997/2008.

 

[arthur]

Spending as a % of GDP increased by a not inconsiderable 5% between 1997/2008.

And it needed to. The country was literally crumbling. I went (for work, not as a student) to an FE College where 65% of the buildings were unfit for human habitation; there's a fantastic new building there now. Ditto schools, hospitals etc etc

 

[Grecian2K]

And it needed to. The country was literally crumbling. I went (for work, not as a student) to an FE College where 65% of the buildings were unfit for human habitation; there's a fantastic new building there now. Ditto schools, hospitals etc etc

Don't fret too much Art.
All of those new schools, hospitals etc etc promised in the 2019 edition of "The Boris Book of BS" will almost certainly have to come to fruition one day...although probably not in our lifetimes.

 

[DB9]

Don't fret too much Art.
All of those new schools, hospitals etc etc promised in the 2019 edition of "The Boris Book of BS" will almost certainly have to come to fruition one day...although probably not in our lifetimes.

Building work pending for many of 40 promised hospitals

Only two buildings are finished and open, the BBC has found, with the majority still awaiting budgets.

www.bbc.co.uk

Vital building work yet to start on 33 of 40 promised NHS hospitals

Only two sites have been built so far under the pledge, made by ex-Prime Minister Boris Johnson in the Tories' 2019 election manifesto. But the main building works have yet to start at 33 facilities.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Two views on this and not the greatest views either, The BBC and The Mail Online.

 

[Alistair20000]

Alsitair appears to be reading too much Daily Mail! He is arguing that Labour spending caused the structural defincit , when it was clearly the world-wide banking disatster.

If Labour can be faulted for anything it was adopting Tory policies by contuning the Thatcher/Major laisez faire approach to the banks and deregulation. It was this continuation of these Conservative policies , alongside the City of London being a world-wide financial hub ,which led to the UK being more exposed than other countries to the world wide crash .

Well Mr Dalek I don’t read the Daily Mail but I have studied the chart in post #51,195. This tells us that for the first 5 years of New Labour there were tiny budget deficits or surpluses when Conservative economic policies were being followed. Once Prudence was cast aside by The Broon and public spending was increased we had continuing deficits and therefore increased debt to service. Every deficit = more debt. Continuing deficits evidence a structural deficit issue of not paying our way. Bad economics unless the excess spending was spent on genuine investment; which it was not. Governments of all political persuasions are useless in the art of genuine investment.

The chart also shows the horror story of the economic mismanagement of the 1974/79 Labour government.

 

[Alistair20000]

And its goals. Between ‘97 and ‘01 Labour ran a structural surplus - the cornerstone of fiscal conservatism is a balanced budget. You’d never read about that in the Daily Mail !

Well you have read it on these boards but it was not achieved by practising socialism

 

[Alistair20000]

That is completely untrue and there is not a scrap of evidence to back this up.

Oh dear

 

[fred binneys head]

And it needed to. The country was literally crumbling. I went (for work, not as a student) to an FE College where 65% of the buildings were unfit for human habitation; there's a fantastic new building there now. Ditto schools, hospitals etc etc

Same now. What the Tories have done to the NHS and the state education sector is disgraceful. And it’s not Covid.

 

[tavyred]

Same now. What the Tories have done to the NHS and the state education sector is disgraceful. And it’s not Covid.

If only the NHS could be sorted by a free spending Labour Government coming in. We have left wing administrations in Wales and Scotland all in receipt of considerably more per capita cash than Tory England has, yet their healthcare outcomes are just as bad as ours and in some cases worse. As the Shadow health Secretary admits, it’s reform that’s needed not just the writing of more cheques.