David Agnew

For
1. Independence for the Central Bank.
British politicians are like Midas in reverse - everything they touch turns to mud. So taking decisions on interest rate policy out of their hands has got to be a good idea. It is good for stability, as it removes the temptation to engineer a boom just before an election.
2. The Minimum Wage
It is much better for everyone makes their money through work, rather than through state handouts.
3. Gift Aid
This is a relitively straightforward way of getting tax relief on gifts to charity.

Against
1. War - Love of
2. The Dependency Culture - Expansion of
3. Devolution
Yes, the extra assemblies, professional politicians, and bureaucrats are a significant waste of money, but far more serious is the 'West Lothian Question". This is not an obscure academic argument, but electoral fraud on a massive scale. New Labour has effectively gerrymandered the British constitution.
4. The Pensions Crisis
The basic state pension is still inadequate. In addition New Labour has exacerbated the pensions crisis by removing tax relief on dividends paid to the pension funds
5. The Appeasement - sorry - "Peace" Process
6. Europhilia
This means an endlessly rising bureaucratic and regulatory burden on the economy. Britain is sliding down the international competitiveness league.
Goodbye rebate.
7. Too Many Gimmicks eg 'baby bonds'
8. Transport
The railways are still a national embarassment.
9. The NHS
How is it possible to double spending on the NHS and still have the hopital trusts in financial crisis? The NHS still performs badly in comparison to continental systems. New Labour has wasted thousands of lives and billions of pounds.
10. Crime - Failure On
One of the most puzzling things about British politicians is their refusal to reduce crime. NL has not closed the gap between the legal system and justice - what justice?!. They have not provided sufficient prison places, and they have done nothing about the causes of crime. Not tough on crime or the causes of crime.
11. The Politicisation of the Civil Service
12. A Love of Complexity.
The benefits and tax systems in Britain are enormously complicated, and therefore expensive to run. There has been no simplification of either. Instead things have got worse. A good expample is Tax Credits.
13. Immigration Policy- Lack of.
14. The National Debt
This has grown under New Labour. And it is worse than it seems because New Labour has used PFI to keep expenditure hidden from the National Debt. They have done this even though it can more than doubles the cost of new hospitals. It is an example of the New Labour tax and waste philosophy.

A fair assessment?

mkpdavies

I would removal of freedoms and the installation of an embryonic police state.

Otherwise spot on.

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harryaldridge

Yep spot on. I thought about this question a few weeks ago and i came up witht the same 3 good things. I could not think of any more. I could think of hundreds of bad points though.

You have to admire their branding though. ANy party that can **** so much up and still get elected for a 3rd term, with a majority past governments would be delighted with, and keep up with the opposition in the opinion polls, is quite amazing!!!

I suggest we might like to pick some of their ideas that transformed the face of Labour into New Labour. I despise it, and yet it appeals more then the other parties - how?

Soddball

I must admit that I would question the inclusion of the minimum wage. Like London's congestion charge, it started out sensibly. Now it grows so fast that SMEs can't afford to employ as many staff (not to mention NI + all the other regs) - so they either don't employ anyone or take on immigrants who are prepared to work harder for less £.

arden forester

Good post, David! I agree with those points. However, the Bank independence is I think more a Brown than Blair move.

As a former Conservative, (YES! :shock: ) and a trade unionist in ASTMS (remember dear Clive Jenkins?) I and quite a lot of right-of-centre thinkers feel the minimum wage is a good idea. If you can't afford to hire then don't expect the help. Do it yourself until the business can afford it. Blair's economy is perilously close to a South sea bubble experience. Ask yourself Soddball. Are you a cheap person requiring cheap wages? I don't think so! :wink:

mkpdavies

I think the minimum wage should be index linked to both the wealth the nation produces and the rate of inflation (some sort of formula that takes both into account maybe).

Huge corporations should definitely have it, but maybe smaller companies should get a bit more slack.

I realise I am biased against huge corps, but in my exerience they are souless machines, that have had the humanity sucked out of them.

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Soddball

I'm self employed. I only make what my company makes. Were I to employ staff, I would resent the government telling me what they are worth to me.
In my field the staff I would employ would be above the 'minimum wage' anyway - IT isn't exactly a low-wage sector.

I haven't said that a minimum wage is a bad idea in principle. However, it's been hijacked by the unions who think that paying someone £10k a year to do the most basic job imaginable is 'fair' because in their words 'businesses can afford it'.

They always think businesses can afford it, right up to the point the business goes under. Then it's 'fat cat bosses close company to spite workers'.

Unions. *******. Hate them all.

arden forester

Well, it's an answer. So you pay what you can afford. You may get an IT worker or you may not. I understand supply and demand in the workplace. Competitive wages is one thing. Slave labour and reneging on deals is another, ie docking pay and other illegal practices! :shock:

I'm for a healthy entreprenuerial economy but I think that companies that steal pension funds, diddle their employees and get their remuneration committee pals to give them bonuses EVEN WHEN the profits are nosediving need a kick up the backside. These aren't even fat cats, more like farting walruses! :roll:

Soddball

There are some bosses like that. Unions believe every boss is like that. In my business (my company caters for SMEs) I've seen maybe one or two really bad bosses out of the couple of hundred I've dealt with. You can spot them easily - they have high staff turnover and no real grasp of how to talk to people. There's a simmering resentment amongst the staff which bubbles over whenever they talk to a stranger who's remotely sympathetic.

New Labour has pounded SMEs hard, particularly hard in the last 4 years. Probably not as hard as Old Labour would have done, but it hurts nonetheless.

As for your term 'slave labour', it's up to the employer and employee to agree a price for the employee's skills. If the employee is short on skills then why should he be paid more. It's like collective bargaining - a deeply nasty business that removes the motivation to achieve.

This labour market is an employee's market, not an employer's market. It's been that way for several years. If you don't like what you're getting paid, move jobs. It's easy. If you can't get paid any more, then your skills aren't worth more and you should reskill.

arden forester

Sometimes yes sometimes no. I've been a career advisor and seen the inner workings of the system. some people are seen as a commodity. Interesting though when those that thought they wouldn't be on "gardening leave" get a spot of it. They change their tune fairly quickly!

Slave labour? I mean literally that! Those at the bottom - exploited foreign workers - and hotel, restaurant, cleaning, and other types on impossible performance targets. Minimum wage yes. Exploitation no. Simple.

Which would you prefer? A thieving person or someone decently paid. On economics alone it must be better.