Labour's top fifty achievements
1. Longest period of sustained low inflation since the 60s.
2. Low mortgage rates.
3. Introduced the National Minimum Wage and raised it to £5.52.
4. Over 14,000 more police in England and Wales.
5. Cut overall crime by 32 per cent.
6. Record levels of literacy and numeracy in schools.
7. Young people achieving some of the best ever results at 14, 16, and 18.
8. Funding for every pupil in England has doubled.
9. Employment is at its highest level ever.
10. Written off up to 100 per cent of debt owed by poorest countries.
11. 85,000 more nurses.
12. 32,000 more doctors.
13. Brought back matrons to hospital wards.
14. Devolved power to the Scottish Parliament.
15. Devolved power to the Welsh Assembly.
16. Dads now get paternity leave of 2 weeks for the first time.
17. NHS Direct offering free convenient patient advice.
18. Gift aid was worth £828 million to charities last year.
19. Restored city-wide government to London.
20. Record number of students in higher education.
21. Child benefit up 26 per cent since 1997.
22. Delivered 2,200 Sure Start Children’s Centres.
23. Introduced the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
24. £200 winter fuel payment to pensioners & up to £300 for over-80s.
25. On course to exceed our Kyoto target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
26. Restored devolved government to Northern Ireland.
27. Over 36,000 more teachers in England and 274,000 more support staff and teaching assistants.
28. All full time workers now have a right to 24 days paid holiday.
29. A million pensioners lifted out of poverty.
30. 600,000 children lifted out of relative poverty.
31. Introduced child tax credit giving more money to parents.
32. Scrapped Section 28 and introduced Civil Partnerships.
33. Brought over 1 million social homes up to standard.
34. Inpatient waiting lists down by over half a million since 1997.
35. Banned fox hunting.
36. Cleanest rivers, beaches, drinking water and air since before the industrial revolution.
37. Free TV licences for over-75s.
38. Banned fur farming and the testing of cosmetics on animals.
39. Free breast cancer screening for all women aged between 50-70.
40. Free off peak local bus travel for over-60s.
41. New Deal - helped over 1.8 million people into work.
42. Over 3 million child trust funds have been started.
43. Free eye test for over 60s.
44. More than doubled the number of apprenticeships.
45. Free entry to national museums and galleries.
46. Overseas aid budget more than doubled.
47. Heart disease deaths down by 150,000 and cancer deaths down by 50,000.
48. Cut long-term youth unemployment by 75 per cent.
49. Free nursery places for every three and four-year-olds.
50. Free fruit for most four to six-year-olds at school.
As announced today on Labour.org.uk. Just so you know.
Don't know where we'd be without that free fruit.
Posted by: Lee Griffin | February 21, 2008 at 17:14
No mention of Iraq or Northern Rock!
Posted by: bluepatriot | February 21, 2008 at 17:21
48 is a lie. Pure and simple lie.
Posted by: Malcolm Dunn | February 21, 2008 at 17:25
51. Bringing this country to its knees.
Posted by: Don Hoyle | February 21, 2008 at 17:46
6. Record levels of literacy and numeracy in schools.
That doesn't tally with the constant reports of kids leaving primary unable to read or write properly.
Posted by: James | February 21, 2008 at 17:46
What are Labour's TOP 50 Disasters?
Posted by: Geordie-Tory | February 21, 2008 at 17:58
36. Cleanest rivers, beaches, drinking water and air since before the industrial revolution.
How do they come up with this stuf?
It really is like something from Stalin's Spindoctor!
Posted by: James | February 21, 2008 at 18:05
"Bringing this country to its knees."
That was what your fascist hero Thatcher did.
If you right wing hooligans think you are going to win the next election then you have a shock coming
Posted by: Mike | February 21, 2008 at 18:20
If life in Labour,s Britain is so good why is a white Brit emigrating every 3 minutes.
Posted by: John F | February 21, 2008 at 18:20
"Bringing this country to its knees."
That was what your fascist hero Thatcher did.
If you right wing hooligans think you are going to win the next election then you have a shock coming
Posted by: Mike | February 21, 2008 at 18:20
Excellent. Think that just about sums up why we (Labour) are going to win a fourth term and the useless Tories will sink to another embarrassing defeat.
Posted by: NorthernMonkey | February 21, 2008 at 18:28
"Cut long-term youth unemployment by 75 per cent"
Oy Gewalt! If this is true then why is youth unemployment up by 20% under labour?
We have a government telling bare-faced lies and the opposition parties let them get away with it.
Posted by: Tony Makara | February 21, 2008 at 18:37
Puts the current 'failure'- Northern Rock into perspective a little, doesn't it......
You see there *is* a real difference between your lot and Labour, even watered down 'new' Labour :)
Posted by: Comstock | February 21, 2008 at 18:51
Free Fruit In Schools? If thats one of the fifty they can't have done much good in 11 years!
Posted by: James | February 21, 2008 at 19:00
Tim - That was tongue in cheek?
15 Devolved power to the Welsh Assmbly - try living here. The successes are increasing council taxes, creating more anti-English sentiment and impovershing the north and west of the country.
7. Young people achieving some of the best ever results at 14, 16, and 18 - by lowering the bar and encouraging blatant cheating and plagiarism.
My 51st. Diminishing the standing of politics and politicians virtually to zero.
52nd. About to hand over what remnants of sovereignty we still posses to Brussels.
Labour are a treacherous bunch.
Posted by: John Broughton | February 21, 2008 at 19:03
51 (I'd put it higher) maximum 48 hour week for all
52 (ditto) Disability Discrimination Act
53 Equal gay of consent for gay and straight people
54 Legislation preventing discrimination against gay people
55 Handguns banned
56 Best ever Red Nose Day sketch (whatever you think about Blair, could you imagine Major doing that :D )
57 Scottish shop workers given the right to refuse Sunday working.
58 Railtrack brought back into public ownership
59 Low emission zone to tackle pollution in London
60 British arts and culture revitalised
61 BBC introduces new services for all
c'mon all you Labour lurkers- lets get it to 100.....
Posted by: Comstock | February 21, 2008 at 19:04
62 2012 Olympics, Commonwealth games in Manchester
63 Crossrail going ahead, DLR extended
64 Trams in Nottingham, Tyne and Wear metro extended, ditto Manchester tram system
65 Fuel duty escalator ended
66High speed rail link to Channel Tunnel (I promise-last transport one :O )
67 Improved school meals (thanks Jamie ;)
Posted by: Comstock | February 21, 2008 at 19:14
62 is going to drain non-London economies and even for London the games are costing more and more each day,
64 Was that really labour central government policy? Or are we now delving in to individual councils?
67 Recent reports show bugger all has happened to help schools realistically
I'm not even going to entertain such scrapings of the barrel such as 56, 60 and 61.
Posted by: Lee Griffin | February 21, 2008 at 20:01
I always wonder how the Lib Dems commenting here reconcile their slavishness to Labour with being the 'real opposition' and a 'shadow cabinet'. They are hysterical.
Posted by: Northernhousewife | February 21, 2008 at 20:02
I can comment on educations ones 6,7,8 and 27.
Results are up because the books have been cooked because God save us if we do not get to reach the Stalinist targets.
Funding and teacher assistants- yep- all paid for by the tax payer and most an absolute waste of money- We buy such junk for my Department as if the money is not spent, you lose it when the next budget is put through.
Staffrooms and classrooms full of classroom assistants....many with nothing to do.
Posted by: eugene | February 21, 2008 at 20:06
Tim,
Did you have to reprint this ridiculous propagandist nonsense - its spoiled my dinner?
Posted by: John Leonard | February 21, 2008 at 20:20
68 Tractor production breaks all-time record
Posted by: Mike H | February 21, 2008 at 20:22
Eugene
As you well know, teaching assistants only sit around doing nothing if the teachers give them nothing to do. These people work hard for very little money. Idiot!
Posted by: Ahmed Shah Masood | February 21, 2008 at 21:16
20. Record number of students in higher education.
Most of them will be saddled with major debt for years and many will find themselves in non-graduate jobs anyway
22. Delivered 2,200 Sure Start Children’s Centres.
That's not an achievement.
Posted by: deborah | February 21, 2008 at 22:01
"68 Tractor production breaks all-time record" Oh good, I thought JCB were doing pretty well lately. Must be the strong economy!.....we continue
69 Legislation to outlaw age discrimination
70 OFCOM is set up oversees expansion of the commercial radio and television sector
71 Assisted places scheme scrapped and money spent on the many, not the few
72 Income tax cut to just 20p in the pound- lower than under the Tories
73 VAT on gas and electricity slashed.
Posted by: Comstock | February 21, 2008 at 22:07
33. Brought over 1 million social homes up to standard.
- but hardly built any new ones and adopted benefits system which encourages people to live apart, creating huge increase in need for affordable homes.
Posted by: deborah | February 21, 2008 at 22:09
4. Over 14,000 more police in England and Wales.
- and set them to work filling in forms.
Posted by: deborah | February 21, 2008 at 22:12
72 Income tax cut to just 20p in the pound- lower than under the Tories
- but personal allowances allowed to dwindle so very low-paid end up paying tax.
Posted by: deborah | February 21, 2008 at 22:17
"33. Brought over 1 million social homes up to standard.
- but hardly built any new ones"
Fair criticism, Deborah, however the Conservative record on this is hardly stellar, not to mention the millions they sold off!!
Posted by: Comstock | February 21, 2008 at 22:18
71 Assisted places scheme scrapped and money spent on the many, not the few
- disinterested kids persuaded to drop in to school occasionally by giving them cash to buy tattoos.
Posted by: deborah | February 21, 2008 at 22:21
1. Highest levels of taxation since 1970's
2. Highest number of young people who cannot afford a house, and highest multiplier needed to buy a house ever
3. Highest level of benefit scroungers
4. ... chasing drivers, parents who smack children, house holders who are defending themselves, protecting Muslim marchers
5. Highest levels of violent crime since 19th century. Highest number of violent criminals released onto our streets
6. Is just a lie. Biggest number of school leavers in the Western World who cannot read or write or speak English. Or whatever the research tells us
7. In Micky Mouse exams that a 4, 6 and 8 year old could have passed with their eyes shut in 1968
8. And been invested in teaching them about climate change, sex, how to claim benefit, and all the other useless PC lessons that are on the NC
9. Maximum number of scroungers on incapacity benefit ever
10 Given tax payers money away to African Tyrants and Thieves who have fleeced their own people
11 On the dirtiest wards in the Western World. And taken from countries who could not afford to lose them
12. Ditto. All earning huge salaries for doing less hours.
13 Doing admin work
14 And broken up the Union, causing the unfairness of the West Lothian question.
15 Ditto. Odd this is two achievements and not 1
16 Causing £xbn loss to the economy. However, there may be benefits to this as well
17 Ummmmm isn't that what the NHS should be doing anyway
18 Set up before 2007 - there was legislation on Gift Aid in 1988
19 With a mayor who makes the Sherrif of Nottingham look like a good guy
20 And a record number dropping out. Plus a record number doing media studies
21. And Pensions up by what?
22. Needed for the record number of teenage and single mothers
23 Which has meant that criminals and foreign preachers of hate have more rights than honest people
24 To counteract the lack of pension and the enormous rise in fuel bills
25 I don't' think that is true. And will do nothing for the world anyway whilst China builds one new coal power station ever week. On top of which man made climate change far from proven.
26 By selling out to the terrorist IRA, who would not decommission their weapons and have committed several robberies to fund their 'party'.
27 Isn't that the same as 8
28 To counterbalance the 48 hour week
29 They've died!! Another lie
30 Ah but poverty relative to what?
And so it goes on ...............
And that is before we start on the list of lies, deceit, waste, destruction and incompetence.
Posted by: Miranda | February 21, 2008 at 22:43
Equal gay of consent for gay and straight people
Sodomny is rightly banned for heterosexual sex, why should it be legal for homosexual sex - it's just not what that piece of equipment was mean't for!
Posted by: Yet Another Anon | February 21, 2008 at 23:32
Miranda is great
Posted by: Alex Deane | February 21, 2008 at 23:43
"72 Income tax cut to just 20p in the pound- lower than under the Tories"
Yet was also raised from 10p in the pound for the least well off without positively redressing the allowance limits. Tax the poor more to make way for cuts to the middle classes, Go Labour, that's what got you elected in the first place after all! *rolls eyes*
Posted by: Lee Griffin | February 22, 2008 at 00:11
Yet Another Anon - I think you sum up quite nicely why most of the general public have such loathing for Tories. Keep up the good work.
Following on from Comstock:
74. Bringing general peace and stability to Northern Ireland
75. Seeing off four leaders of the Conservative party (soon to be five)
76. Allowing gay people to serve in the military
77. Banning capital punishment completely
78. Liberalising the prudish pornography laws we inherited from 'Back to Basics' Major
79. Liberalising the drinking hours to treat adults like adults.
80. Enormous regeneration of our city centres, as seen notably in Manchester and Leeds
81. Having the guts to support England's bid to host the 2018 World Cup
82. Having more women in Cabinet, Govvernment and Parliament than any other party in British history.
83. Having the first black member of the Cabinet
84. Having the first gay member of Cabinet
85. Beating that smug git Tony Lit (although we do thank him kindly for helping us out with Tony Blair's fundraising dinner - cheers Tony!)
86. London becomes the international financial capital
Come on Labourites - we can get much more...
Posted by: NorthernMonkey | February 22, 2008 at 00:53
Thought of a couple more -
87. Removing most of the hereditary peers from the House of Lords
88. Helping to create an independent judiciary by removing the Law Lords from the House of Lords to create a new Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
Posted by: NorthernMonkey | February 22, 2008 at 00:59
Ah yes, international financial capital, and improving Britains economic standing abroad too, no? And showing how to run a country well in the long term?
Sure, keep on dreaming.
Posted by: Will Stobart | February 22, 2008 at 01:03
That's right Will. You don't achieve eleven years of low unemployment, low interest rates, low inflation and strong economic growth in every quarter of every year by luck!
Posted by: NorthernMonkey | February 22, 2008 at 01:31
I have just posted a piece about double entry bookkeeping on the NR thread. I see the pros & cons posted here as just that; an advantage at the cost of something else.
As a newcomer, I found it quite amusing to read the polemics. Not my style though.
Posted by: John Churchill | February 22, 2008 at 04:01
89. Building totally new universities
90. Intodution of Unitary authorities
Posted by: Howlermonkey | February 22, 2008 at 07:44
I suppose they decided that "Longest period of sustained low inflation since the 60s" sounded better than highest inflation since 1991
Posted by: Mike Wood | February 22, 2008 at 08:17
6, 7, 13, and 48 are definitely not true. 5, 33, 36 and 41 are probably not true (although they're hard to quantify). 9 is true as far as it goes, but neglects to mention that the majority of jobs created since 1997 have gone to non-British nationals. 18 was introduced by the Conservatives. 20 neglects to mention that the drop-out rate among students is now up to 22%. 19, 23 and 35 aren't really anything to be proud of, IMHO. 21 suggests that it's been uprated in line with inflation, which is standard. 40 and 42 are a waste of money. 47 continues a long-term trend. 26 involves turning a blind eye to racketeering. 50 Wow!
Posted by: Sean Fear | February 22, 2008 at 08:20
Northernmonkey> "You don't achieve eleven years of low unemployment, low interest rates, low inflation and strong economic growth in every quarter of every year by luck!"
No, you do it by inheriting fantastic economic figures from Kenneth Clarke, and have the luck to be in power during 10 years of global growth fuelled by the expansion of China and India.
You fiddle the figures by changing the measure of inflation from RPI to CPI, thus halving it at a stroke.
You let rip govt spending, in the full knowledge that govt spending growth counts as GDP growth. For example, knock down 10,000 perfectly servicable terraced houses in the north of england, replace them with 10,000 hideous rabbit hutches, and you have bolstered GDP by the 'economic activity/growth' of building those houses - all for zero net gain to the country.
You then proceed to squander those 10 years of global growth by letting tax and spending rip, you achieve lower average annual growth than the rest of G8, you destroy the best funded pension system in the world, you preside over an explosion of unproductive civil servants and quangos all with massive unfunded public sector pension liabilities. and you enter the latest period of downturn (which is coming despite Brown's delusion that he somehow abolished the natural economic cycle - or boom and bust as he puts it) with record govt debt and unsustainable public spending plans.
Posted by: James | February 22, 2008 at 08:31
To be fair, James, you can't deny the government some of the credit for the economic growth of the last ten years, even if they did inherit an economy in excellent shape.
But they've certainly spent their way through all the revenues that were generated during that period, and borrowed heavily in addition. And don't have a great deal to show for it, now the money's running out.
Posted by: Sean Fear | February 22, 2008 at 08:39
OK, lets start the New List of Labour's REAL Acheivements since coming to power, rather than just respond to their smoke and mirrors list.
I'll make a start, and to differentiate them from the numbers in their list, I'll adopt the labelling system RL1, RL2 RL3...(for 'real list').
RL1. Started more wars than any previous Govt for at least a century.
RL2. Presided over the systematic destruction of the fighting power and capability of the British Armed Forces. Defence spending at 1930s levels.
RL3. Destroyed the best funded pension system in Europe.
RL4. Hamstrung our police with red tape, leading to a tripling of police resignations.
RL5. Doubled violent crime in a decade.
RL6. Refused to invest in prisons, leading to 11,000 criminals released so far.
RL7. Thousands of children under the age of 10 now on the national DNA database.
RL8. A new criminal offence created for every day in office.
RL9. Council tax doubled.
RL10. Hired more new civil servants than the population of Sheffield.
RL11. £126 billion of taxpayers money now spent by unaccountable QUANGOS (source Economic Research Council).
RL12. over 1.2 million people now employed bt unaccountable QUANGOS (same sourch).
RL13. Broken explicit manifesto promise to hold referendum on Lisbon Constitution/Treaty.
RL14. Introduced the disastrous Tax Credit system which overpays to the tune of £billions every year, and causes extreme hardship and distress in seeking to claw back the money.
RL15. Lost the personal financial data of half the country in the post.
RL16. Saw the first ever case of a serving Prime Minister interviewed by the police during a criminal investigation.
RL17. Actually lied to the country and to Parliament in order to take the country into a war described by th eUN Secretary General as illegal - refuses to hold a Privy Council enquiry into the war in contravention of all precedent.
RL18. Has presided over an explosion of graduate debt.
RL19. Has presided over the more scandalous phenomenon of non-graduate debt - ie the poor sods conned by the Govt into going to university who then drop out with part of the debt but no degree. Don't hear much about them do we?
RL20. Consumer debt now tops £1 trillion.
RL21. Unfunded public sector pension liabilities now top £1 trillion.
RL22. MAssive decrease in productivity within the NHS - despite record spending, presided over financial crisi that saw Trusts removinf lightbulbs to save money!
RL23. A&E and consultant led maternity services cut or under threat around the country.
RL24. "The days of the District General Hospital are over"
RL25. "The days of the traditional family GP surgery are over"
RL26. Managed to alienate: the nurses (staged pay award...in England, not Scotland), the teachers, the police, the soldiers, the prison officers, now GPs...
RL27. Some parts of the country now have levels of govt spending as a percentage of the local economy greater than that achieved by Stalin.
RL28. 40% of primary school children unable to read or write properly.
RL29. Universities having to introduce foundation courses to teach undergraduates basic skills they used to learn in schools.
RL30. Massive social engineering underway in universities - move from academic entry requirements to social entry requirements.
RL31. A Levels (the gold standard qualification) devalued and now under threat from rival diplomas.
Right - I could go on, but someone else's turn. Take up where I've left off.
Posted by: James | February 22, 2008 at 08:58
Northern Monkey - Making London the financial capital? 1986 Big Bang mean anything?
"Cut long-term youth unemployment by 75 per cent." Hmmmm, by putting young people on the New Deal, giving them job for a week, and then another 6 months on the dole, before doing it again... Hence no long term unemployment, but the absolute rate is rising. A mastery of spin and stats.
Posted by: Old Kent Boy | February 22, 2008 at 09:10
Miranda - what a hateful post! People's private lives called "private" lives for a reason and people should keep their noses out of what goes on in people's bedrooms!
Posted by: onenationtory | February 22, 2008 at 10:34
- Introduced the National Minimum Wage and raised it to £5.52.
- Child benefit up 26 per cent since 1997.
- £200 winter fuel payment to pensioners & up to £300 for over-80s.
- Brought over 1 million social homes up to standard.
- New Deal - helped over 1.8 million people into work.
Are these actually achievements? Or just exhibits of and/or poor mitigants for a bad framework of economic and social incentives that encourage avoidable worklessness and poverty?
Posted by: Rathga | February 22, 2008 at 11:03
"84. Having the first gay member of Cabinet" (northernmonkey 00.53)
That is really funny.
Labour spent decades accusing Tory cabinet ministers of being shirt-lifters. This claim encapsulates some bona fide Labour achievements:
RL32 Turning a blind eye to the truth
RL33 Re-writing history
RL34 Claiming credit where none is due
They have delivered uncompromisingly in this area.
Posted by: deborah | February 22, 2008 at 12:16
Oh please James - you are incredibly naive if you think that the only reason we have had such great economic strength over the past 11 years was because of Ken Clarke!
And the economy certainly was not in good shape when Clarke left office - cities look like ghost towns, schools couldn't afford text books, people died because NHS waiting lists were so long etc. And since there was a big recession in 1992 (recessions eh - remember them?), the only direction the economy could go after that was up!
Bottom line is James, it's a Labour government that delievers economic success these days - and with the likes of George Osborne leading the charge on your side, I can't see that changing anytime soon!
Posted by: NorthernMonkey | February 22, 2008 at 13:03