a€¡° a country transformed: 10 years of Labour Government in BritainThen and now

Ten years is a very short time in politics. But it is a very long time
for those who have forgotten how far we have come.

On May 1 2007, I published a pamphlet which looks back at the big issues
that were making the headlines prior to Labourâs election in 1997. Using
the newspapersâ own words, it reminds us of how far the country has come
on the key issues that affect the quality of peopleâs daily lives, and
have been crucial to the transformation of our country: education,
employment, health, crime and the economy.

What emerges is both the enormity of the challenge that Labour faced in
1997 in turning around under-investment and lack of reform, but also the
scepticism and despair as to whether government could overcome these
major and sometimes very long-standing blights on the lives of the
British people.

Todayâs newspapers tell a different story â with per pupil spending on
education having doubled from Â£2,500 to well over Â£5,000 in the past 10
years, todayâs headlines no longer scream, âCrumbling Britain â Schools
of Shameâ (the Observer, March 3 1996). â4m Joblessâ (the Sun, March 21
1997) no longer adorns the front pages due to 2.6m extra jobs and the
lowest level of unemployment since the 1970s. More than 85,000 more
nurses and over 32,000 more doctors, and the largest sustained hospital
building programme since the NHS was founded, have made headlines like
this a thing of the past: âWeather and Cash Crisis leave NHS in Chaosâ
(the Independent, January 6 1997).

Despite widespread media predictions that under Labour, house prices
would fall, interest rates would surge upwards and there would be a
âhumiliating devaluation in the poundâ, headlines such as âPound Hit as
Jobless Rise and Salaries Slumpâ (the Evening Standard, November 15
1995) have not been seen for years â and Â£1 has recently been strong
enough to be worth $2. Michael Howard famously admitted that crime had
doubled under the Tories and convictions fell by more than a quarter.

Labour today has dramatically increased police numbers by more than
14,000, and introduced over 11,000 new community support officers. We no
longer see âFalling Police Numbers Mock Tory Promisesâ (the Independent,
September 2 1996) in the papers. Such headlines belong in the past, but
with a resurgent Conservative party there is no room for amnesia.

Amid the daily political grind, it can be easy to forget that many of
the problems facing the country in 1997 have largely been solved.
Whatever the political argument of the day, we must remember that these
achievements did not happen as a random accident of fate. Led by Tony
Blair, Labourâs achievements have not just been numbers but real people
teaching our young, healing our sick and making our communities safer,
and hard cash in peopleâs pockets meaning lives are lived to a higher
standard.

Britain today is a country transformed from those dark years of Tory
rule, where selfishness and greed were the political mantra. We have a
better educated, healthier, safer, fairer, more open-minded and more
prosperous society than 10 years ago. This is surely a legacy to be
proud of. All of this, of course, began with the decision of the people
to put their trust in Labour.

From Sure Start and universal nursery education, the introduction of the
minimum wage through to pension credit and the new pension proposals
voted through the House of Commons in April 2007, it is political
decisions and choice, not chance, that make the difference.

And the lasting legacy of Blairâs 10-year premiership will quite simply
be the transformation of the British political landscape â that the era
of Margaret Thatcher has been put behind us. It is a tribute to those
first 10 years of New Labour in government that the political culture,
the economic prospects, the social agenda are all entirely different,
and it is on this agenda that all main political parties are now
competing for votes.

Blairâs leadership success in winning a consensus of the aspirant and
moderately affluent, with the have-nots and dispossessed, not only put
behind us a century of Labour spasmodically in power; but brought us a
party embracing the future, prepared to take on the challenge of change,
and responsive to the rising expectations of the British people.

There has and never will be a year zero in which a government resolved
all the problems â economic, social and cultural â facing the people
they represent. Every step taken, every success achieved opens up new
aspirations as well as refocusing on new concerns.

The world of tomorrow will by its very nature demand new approaches to
how best to hold to account a more pluralistic and diffuse political
society; to reinforce civil renewal; and the capacity and assets of
individuals, families and communities to make decisions for themselves
and to influence the world around them.

Greater transparency in public life has perversely, but entirely
correctly, demanded standards and openness never before experienced in
public life. Disagreements over foreign policy, in particular Iraq,
have, for the moment, overshadowed tremendous achievements in Kosovo and
the Balkans. Not to mention in Sierra Leone, and in the leadership shown
through the G8 in tackling worldwide poverty and the neglect of Africa,
and the new challenges of climate change. But nothing can take away the
simple fact that people here at home and, yes, across the world, are
better off because of this Labour government.

One thing is certain. The power-sharing administration in Northern
Ireland from May 8 2007 is, if ever one were needed, a demonstration of
how, despite the cynicism and the denigration surrounding democratic
political activity, politics can succeed in bringing peace and
prosperity in the most unlikely circumstances. A legacy indeed for the
prime minister.

And perhaps, it also offers an alternative to the growing flirtation
with the idea of taking âpoliticsâ out of politics; the handing over of
decisions to âofficialdomâ; the belief that there are some people
somewhere in our country, who, without values, prejudices or personal
predilections, can look after our best interests, can balance competing
demands, can in essence create a world free of political disagreement.
For that would be a sad outcome from a decade in which, with all its
faults, it is politics that has changed the world for so many.

On the twin challenges of opportunity and security, and the reshaping of
politics to be âon your sideâ, enabling and working with people rather
than just making decisions on their behalf â these are bigger hurdles to
surmount, but offer a more lasting and sustainable political landscape
than ever before. Let us take on that continuing modernising and
reforming challenge and let us do it in a way that speaks to, engages
with, and uses the talent and commitment of the people we serve.

For those who say, quite rightly, that consistency and continuity help
in building on firm foundations, it is self-evident that the past 10
years under Blair have created building blocks on which further progress
can be made. In the world of modern communication, and a 21st century of
economic and global change and rapid social, cultural and political
developments, preparing Britain for the future has rightly been the
hallmark of the past 10 years. Now, looking ahead to the future and
combating the âevilsâ that confront us, is the challenge we must
address. Labour is ready, willing and able to take on that mantle.


There is no text version of the pamphlet, only PDF:
http://www.unison.org.uk/acrobat/B3223z.pdf

date: Sat, 05 May 2007 09:11:38 +0100 author: Custard Creme