What happened after 1997 is less clear. Measuring the distance between those at the very top and bottom, the Gini Coefficient suggests inequality increased. The 90:10 Ratio assesses the difference between those on more typical incomes and indicates it fell. Measures of relative poverty show pensioners and children became comparatively better off.
As a result of Labour’s initiatives to tackle unfairness, Conservative leader David Cameron claimed the government ‘maxed out’ the credit card and so was partly to blame for the impact of the 2008 financial crisis. Although increasing spending on public services, Labour’s overall expenditure as a proportion of the Gross Domestic Product did not however significantly rise. Immediately before the 2008 financial crisis, which forced the government to pay out billions to prevent banks collapsing, spending was close to that which it inherited in 1997.
These graphs allow you make to make your mind up on both issues.
]]>Britain became more unequal under the Conservatives during 1979-97.
What happened after 1997 is less clear. Measuring the distance between those at the very top and bottom, the Gini Coefficient suggests inequality increased. The 90:10 Ratio assesses the difference between those on more typical incomes and indicates it fell. Measures of relative poverty show pensioners and children became comparatively better off.
As a result of Labour’s initiatives to tackle unfairness, Conservative leader David Cameron claimed the government ‘maxed out’ the credit card and so was partly to blame for the impact of the 2008 financial crisis. Although increasing spending on public services, Labour’s overall expenditure as a proportion of the Gross Domestic Product did not however significantly rise. Immediately before the 2008 financial crisis, which forced the government to pay out billions to prevent banks collapsing, spending was close to that which it inherited in 1997.
These graphs allow you make to make your mind up on both issues.
With permission from David Gentleman
]]>Many who voted for Jeremy Corbyn for Labour leader in 2015 did so because he opposed Britain joining the United States-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. Blair was mistaken in thinking that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. For some, this tragic episode overshadows the positive achievements of the Labour government.
With permission from David Gentleman
Once regarded as the party of economic incompetence, Labour’s management of public finances during its first term allowed the party to turn the tables on the Conservatives in the 2001 general election. Labour also made the Conservatives accept that spending on public services, rather than tax cuts, should be every government’s priority.
The 1997 general election increased the number of female MPs to 121. 101 of these were Labour MPs. Women held major ministerial posts for the first time. They included Harriet Harman in the newly created role of Minster for Women, Margaret Beckett as Foreign Secretary and Jacqui Smith as Home Secretary. They were labelled by the media as ‘Blair’s babes’, a tag that columnist Polly Toynbee condemned as misogynist.