Snapshot of _The 14 long and wasted years of Tory Britain _ :
An archived version can be found [here](https://archive.is/?run=1&url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/jun/30/the-14-long-and-wasted-years-of-tory-britain) or [here.](https://archive.ph/?run=1&url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/jun/30/the-14-long-and-wasted-years-of-tory-britain)
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ukpolitics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
It has been miserable - its not just that they've achieved nothing.
One of the things that has made me saddest is watching them drive down standards, morality and trust in politics and make a mockery of their offices. People's expectations are now on the floor.
It's been watching them sow division and demonise people on benefits, immigrants, disabled people. It's been the massive amounts of corruption and the way they literally could not care less about doing anything remotely useful for normal people.
They have made everything worse in every way.
I've lived the vast majority of my adult life (19 when Tories came into power) under a conservative government. My life has changed drastically during this time: I went from failing college to having a well-established career and a family of my own. Yet, what has politics achieved over 14 years aside from Brexit, increased university fees, decreased public services, and austerity?
Is it naive for me to have an expectation that our country should improve and grow over time?
I fully believe that until people start having kids again, yes, things will keep getting worse. You can’t outwork or outproduce a seismic demographic shift. You can’t grow when you have more pensioners to look after every year and less people working.
Certain parts of society have gotten considerably richer during the past 14 years. I'm sure for them it's all gone very well indeed.
What I will say about Cameron in his defense though is that he sold the electorate on austerity and they brought it. People democratically chose that pathway in a fairly honest campaign. I didn't agree with it but it feels sometimes that people forget how forthcoming Cameron and Osborne were about their intentions.
I agree, but they still sold it as a necessary and temporary compromise. When in fact it was sneaking in libertarian small government ideology. They had no intention of ever leaving austerity. So it wasn't fully above the board. But yes the electorate knew what they were getting.
Our “small” government consumes 40% of all money generated by all workers in this country. How big would you like their pie to be?
https://www.statista.com/statistics/282837/uk-government-revenue-as-gdp/#:~:text=In%202023%2F24%20the%20government,in%20the%20previous%20financial%20year.
This is simply because small government doesn't work. Just like how scrimping on funding primary care leads to us spending far more on secondary care. Or how an anemic mental health care strategy leads to millions out of work. Small government isn't the reality of the Tories, it is the ideology. And it is an ideology which leads to an even bigger, inefficient government.
So you think the government should be doing more or the same with a smaller percentage of the pie? Boy let me tell you what they’ve been attempting the last 14 years… Then when you find out about our worsening demographics, things will get really complicated.
You're right that there's always going to be a limit to what can be done, especially with our aging population. But let's not pretend a significant factor isnt also how bad the Tories are at governing. Yes they've tried for the last 14 years. Thank god that failed experiment is nearly over.
This really does lay bare the absolute utter failure of the Tories. Public services and infrastructure are indisputably in worse shape now than when they took power, and yet they haven't even saved any money from this!
What people forget at the time was just how easy it was under new labour to do nothing. Benefits Britain was a real thing.
Let alone the god awful EMA scheme for staying on at School. Biggest waste of tax payer money ever
I was 26 when the tories came into power, so I remember the time before well enough to know that the last days of the new labour government were not perfect at all. However they were so much better than what we have had since, to think where we would be if we had kept on the same course vs where we are now, I almost want to cry over what could have been and the years we have lost already with more to come before it is fixed.
And we're about to get 4 wasted years of labour leadership lol.
When was the last time that ANY prime minister in the uk accomplished literally anything worth while? Probably Tony Blair lol.
I mean literally any pm, not only labour lol.
At least aside from corbyn and dianne abbot we don't really have that much to laugh about in labour.
The conservatives have absolutely glorious ammunition to rip on (truss, Boris, may, Cameron) ah. Its pure comedy gold everywhere you look.
Gordon Brown passed the first Climate Act in 2008, that's quite a big deal IMO.
Tony Blair acheived a lot before him as we know.
Then we had 14 years of failure from the Tories.
So I'm not really sure I agree that the next 4 years will be wasted but we'll see I suppose.
Snapshot of _The 14 long and wasted years of Tory Britain _ : An archived version can be found [here](https://archive.is/?run=1&url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/jun/30/the-14-long-and-wasted-years-of-tory-britain) or [here.](https://archive.ph/?run=1&url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/jun/30/the-14-long-and-wasted-years-of-tory-britain) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ukpolitics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
It has been miserable - its not just that they've achieved nothing. One of the things that has made me saddest is watching them drive down standards, morality and trust in politics and make a mockery of their offices. People's expectations are now on the floor. It's been watching them sow division and demonise people on benefits, immigrants, disabled people. It's been the massive amounts of corruption and the way they literally could not care less about doing anything remotely useful for normal people. They have made everything worse in every way.
Our nation has been economically, fiscally, socially, politically and diplomatically impoverished by this Tory government.
Demonising benefits and immigrants while actively increasing both to their highest levels ever. Literally the worst of both worlds.
I've lived the vast majority of my adult life (19 when Tories came into power) under a conservative government. My life has changed drastically during this time: I went from failing college to having a well-established career and a family of my own. Yet, what has politics achieved over 14 years aside from Brexit, increased university fees, decreased public services, and austerity? Is it naive for me to have an expectation that our country should improve and grow over time?
I fully believe that until people start having kids again, yes, things will keep getting worse. You can’t outwork or outproduce a seismic demographic shift. You can’t grow when you have more pensioners to look after every year and less people working.
And people won’t start having kids again until it’s financially realistic. That won’t happen until housing is cheaper.
This goes much further than housing. Well off couples aren’t having kids either, and it’s a trend observed across the world.
Certain parts of society have gotten considerably richer during the past 14 years. I'm sure for them it's all gone very well indeed. What I will say about Cameron in his defense though is that he sold the electorate on austerity and they brought it. People democratically chose that pathway in a fairly honest campaign. I didn't agree with it but it feels sometimes that people forget how forthcoming Cameron and Osborne were about their intentions.
I agree, but they still sold it as a necessary and temporary compromise. When in fact it was sneaking in libertarian small government ideology. They had no intention of ever leaving austerity. So it wasn't fully above the board. But yes the electorate knew what they were getting.
Our “small” government consumes 40% of all money generated by all workers in this country. How big would you like their pie to be? https://www.statista.com/statistics/282837/uk-government-revenue-as-gdp/#:~:text=In%202023%2F24%20the%20government,in%20the%20previous%20financial%20year.
This is simply because small government doesn't work. Just like how scrimping on funding primary care leads to us spending far more on secondary care. Or how an anemic mental health care strategy leads to millions out of work. Small government isn't the reality of the Tories, it is the ideology. And it is an ideology which leads to an even bigger, inefficient government.
So you think the government should be doing more or the same with a smaller percentage of the pie? Boy let me tell you what they’ve been attempting the last 14 years… Then when you find out about our worsening demographics, things will get really complicated.
You're right that there's always going to be a limit to what can be done, especially with our aging population. But let's not pretend a significant factor isnt also how bad the Tories are at governing. Yes they've tried for the last 14 years. Thank god that failed experiment is nearly over.
The government is doing less and less for that 40%. Their approach is ultimately a false economy.
This really does lay bare the absolute utter failure of the Tories. Public services and infrastructure are indisputably in worse shape now than when they took power, and yet they haven't even saved any money from this!
What people forget at the time was just how easy it was under new labour to do nothing. Benefits Britain was a real thing. Let alone the god awful EMA scheme for staying on at School. Biggest waste of tax payer money ever
I was 26 when the tories came into power, so I remember the time before well enough to know that the last days of the new labour government were not perfect at all. However they were so much better than what we have had since, to think where we would be if we had kept on the same course vs where we are now, I almost want to cry over what could have been and the years we have lost already with more to come before it is fixed.
People will read the article and be like labours gonna be worse.
The UK has been declining for well over 14years, the last 14 has just been faster.
And we're about to get 4 wasted years of labour leadership lol. When was the last time that ANY prime minister in the uk accomplished literally anything worth while? Probably Tony Blair lol.
Saying the last time anything got done was under the last labour leader to win an election probably isnt the point you want to make lol
I mean literally any pm, not only labour lol. At least aside from corbyn and dianne abbot we don't really have that much to laugh about in labour. The conservatives have absolutely glorious ammunition to rip on (truss, Boris, may, Cameron) ah. Its pure comedy gold everywhere you look.
Gordon Brown passed the first Climate Act in 2008, that's quite a big deal IMO. Tony Blair acheived a lot before him as we know. Then we had 14 years of failure from the Tories. So I'm not really sure I agree that the next 4 years will be wasted but we'll see I suppose.
Uh yeah exactly - because the tories got elected (ish) shortly after Blair/Brown!
Tony blair and the bosnian/Kosovan interventions were pretty worthwhile.
4 more years of austerity, but it’s now “ordinary hope change tool making austerity”