Coalition vs New Labour

Has the coalition done a better job of running our country than new labour (Blair and Brown) and why/ why not?

Would love to hear what people have to say on this subject.

Thanks to all replies.

I think they made necessary decisions that were probably good for the long term but they are still too soft on crime and immigration, just like the previous Labour government. And I think some of their policies on the environment and rural affairs have been just catastrophic and not thought out properly at all.
I don't think I need to say anything on the bedroom tax.

Overall, the coalition is probably better at running the economy than labour but in other areas it has been a complete disaster. I wouldn't be too sad if the Conservatives never got in again.

It's been better for me, to my existence in UK is mostly an economic one, the day there is no money to be had from here I'm outta here pronto. Issues such as immigration, NHS, welfare etc doesn't quite bother or matter to me as I've no intention of staying here permanently, only thing that keeps me here are the very generous allowances given by HMRC for offshore oil workers, extremely generous rules on non-dom and non-resident policies, rules on incorporation, low enough corporate tax, steady returns on property investments and now very business friendly policies.

Red tape has gone down a lot under this government. This government is far more interested in SMEs within UK far more than under Labour who would support anyone but UK SMEs, selling our products and services to the government has improved a lot as it's no longer a case of needing to wait up to 8 months to get payment though you're promised 60 days, these days if they say 60 days by day 48 to 50 you will be told on what date you could expect payment. It's a lot easier to bid for government contracts as well these days so to me this is good.

Economic policies, I have this thing that the less they do the better it is, thankfully this has mostly been the case as far as I'm concerned. Only thing they didn't quite do correctly as far as I'm concerned is they increased VAT instead of lowering it and they bowed too much to the lib-dems in taking so many people off income tax while maintaining far too generous WTCs..... granted I'm not unhappy about WTCs, allows me to give 12-16 and in some cases 0 hour contracts to quite a lot of my employees and they are more than happy, I'd have a rebellion at my businesses if I did the same in Norway or Iceland where I also have business interests.

What I'm unhappy over? I'm unhappy that benefits are still so generous that so many people are willing to say it isn't worthwhile to work a NMW or AMW job. I suppose capping it to a 1% annual rise is something but I'd been happier if it had been 0.1%

Ministers I'm extremely disappointed and unhappy with :- That idiot Nick Clegg and that bastard Vince Cable, these are the stumbling blocks of the government from implementing proper policies.
Generally happy with the PM who is also my MP, Gideon Osborne is fine as long as he shuts his mouth, thankfully he is miles ahead of that "credit card Chancellor" that left UK in tatters.

Overall I'm happy with the way things are, now I only want to see a clear policy on what shall happen after a withdrawal from the EU, harsher on crime especially petty crime, I also want to see less nonsense issues and more pressing issues addressed first, **** like gay marriages, women rights or their lack of or representation at boardrooms, feminist garbage etc should take a backseat, prefer they concentrate on far more pressing issues especially those that I could make money off

I think that the coalition overstated the case for their economic polices. They made it sound like that when they took control in 2010, the sky was about to fall down. They made it appear that we were in the position purely because of Labour's policies. They said that their ideas were the only way to get us out of the mess they said we were in.

None of these things were true, however the hysteria that the coalition managed to whip up allowed them to push through some incredibly unfair and ill thought out policies.

Additionally, for those still fooled by the coalition's confidence trick, it will be hard to evaluate the present government's time in office compared to Labour's time.


I won't be said to see the Tories gone in 2015.

I think that the coalition overstated the case for their economic polices. They made it sound like that when they took control in 2010, the sky was about to fall down. They made it appear that we were in the position purely because of Labour's policies. They said that their ideas were the only way to get us out of the mess they said we were in. None of these things were true, however the hysteria that the coalition managed to whip up allowed them to push through some incredibly unfair and ill thought out policies.

And yes, it was quite bad when they took over.

A recovering economy? It has taken the Tories three years to get the economy back into the state that they inherited it in.

The euro crisis hit just after your 'recovering economy'.

And the global banking crises hit during Labour's tenure. Before that one hit us, Labour had managed to get the 42% debt to GDP figure the Tories left behind in 1997 down to 35%. They also reduced the deficit left behind by the Tories too - everything was going very well.

Annoying how international events can upset the apple cart, isn't it?

Yet still borrowed £20 billion a month even when there were boom times.

Yet still borrowed £20 billion a month even when there were boom times.

I generally agree. The bit I'd disagree with is the economic policy. Although I agree with your sentiments of do little, I'd still like to see economic policy and tax policy changed a little to make it a bit more stream lined. i.e. continue cutting the red tape. So carry on with what they're doing.