Economic Developments: Other Developments with Brown as Chancellor Flashcards
When was unemployment down to 1.5 million?
1997
When did unemployment fall to 1 million?
2001
What percentage of British people were unemployed by 2005?
2.5%
How can it be seen the number of homeless people grew from 1997 to 2002?
44,000 homeless people in 1997. 75,000 homeless people in 2002
What did Brown do with the controlling of interest rates?
Transferred control to the Bank of England
What was Brown transferring interest rate control showing in terms of democracy?
Social Democracy
What part of Labour’s proposed policies did Social Democracy appear in?
The Third Way
What was inflation at in 1997?
2.6%
What did Brown tell the Bank of England to control inflation at?
2.5%
How can it be seen Brown was not able to keep inflation at 2.5% by 2007?
In 2007, inflation was at 5%
Where did lots of government spending go to?
The NHS
How much money was spent on the NHS in the March 2000 budget?
£2 billion
What was the impact of spending lots of money on the NHS?
High inflation
What did Brown do to pension funds?
He taxed them
What was the state with the elderly population in Britain at this time?
It was increasing
How many more years were you likely to live for if you were 65 in 1995?
Live for 15 more years
What amount of money was lost from pensions through taxing by 2007?
£8 billion
What happened with overall share values in the UK as a result of pension tax?
They decreased
How much total UK share value was lost because of pension taxes?
£120 billion
When was the maximum amount you could save being untaxed at £12,000?
1999
How much money could you save and be untaxed by 2007?
£7000
How can it be seen Blair’s government did create jobs from 1997 to 2007?
In 1997, 27.5 million people were employed. By 2007, over 30 million were employed
How many 16-30 year olds were on unemployment benefits in 2007?
5 million
What fraction of all working people were employed in the public sector in 2007?
1/4
Why would the government not be making any money from the people employed in the public sector?
All money that was made would go towards their wages
What did Brown have to do in order to cover public sector wages?
Borrow from foreign banks
When did Gordon Brown sell most of Britain’s gold reserves from?
1999 to 2002
What percentage of British Gold Reserves did Gordon Brown sell?
60%
Why did Brown sell so much British gold?
To diversify the British reserve fund portfolio
How many tons of gold were sold?
400 tons
How much money was generated from the gold selling?
£3 billion
How much would the gold that was sold have been worth in 2011?
£19 billion
Name a newspaper that criticised Brown for selling the gold
The Scotsman
What did The Scotsman reporting on Labour economic policies show about support for Labour in Scotland?
It was waning
What did Britain not take advantage of in terms of foreign exports?
Exporting to China
How many times more money did Germany make from selling goods to China compared to Britain in 2005?
6 times more
