Mike's Columns in the Portsmouth News
2007 local elections and the verdict on Blair
The beginning of the month saw the city elections and I was pleased that the Lib Dems held their own to remain the largest party on the council. I would never say everything is perfect in the city but the Lib Dems have achieved much over the past few years - whether it is the Tricorn down, recycling rates increased, or all the roads being resurfaced. Once again though the Tories adopted a very carping and negative tone during the election – only managing two positive sentences in their election newspaper on what they would do for the city and luckily for the Lib Dems, actually I believe, turning off a large section of the electorate in the process.
May has also seen Tony Blair’s resignation announcement. When he came to power in 1997, Labour and the Lib Dems shared a similar analysis that the dire state of our schools and hospitals meant that they needed urgent investment. The Lib Dems therefore said in ’97 that we wanted to raise tax by 1p to pay to improve them. In contrast, Labour followed the Tory spending plans for two years – which must now be seen as a lost opportunity. In their second term, Labour did increase National Insurance contributions and it is welcome news that hospital waiting times are down. But this has been spoilt with a shocking decline in NHS dentistry, people being denied drugs like those for Alzheimer’s that only cost £2.50 a day, and too much bureaucracy and centralised control. On education, we do have smaller class sizes and improving exam results but Labour also broke their promise not to introduce university tuition fees.
And there is still a major problem with education for 14-19 year-olds with truancy at record levels and more 16 year-olds dropping out of education than in any other European country. And on the environment, carbon emissions have risen by 2% since 1997 while “green” taxation has fallen as a percentage of national income. My verdict then on Blair? “Showed some promise and good work, but has often let himself down.”
Share this page:
