New Labour Flashcards
1997 election results
- Blair’s Labour won a landslide 418 seats, the most seats the Party has ever held.
trade union funding of New labour
. the trade unions financed 2/3 of Labour’s 2001 campaign, despite New Labour refusing to overturn any of the Thatcherite anti-union legislation.
swing from Tories in 1997
- Huge Conservative-Labour swing of 10.2% on a national turnout of 71% (the last national vote where turnout exceeded 70% until the 2016 EU Referendum). * 2001 election:
2001 election results
- Labour re-elected with another landslide majority (dubbed the ‘quiet landslide’), suffering a net loss of only 5 seats.
2005 election results
- Labour won its third consecutive victory with only a 35.2% share of the popular vote, but its majority was now only 66.
Brown as Labour Leader and PM.
- Blair resigned
pursuant to the alleged Blair-Brown Deal of 1994
Brown Blair deal
1994
* Brown would not stand in the forthcoming Labour leadership election so as to allow Blair a better chance of easy victory, and in return Blair would appoint Brown Chancellor upon Labour’s presumptive victory. In government Brown would be granted unprecedented powers over domestic policy, which would make him the most powerful Chancellor in British history
public desire for a third way
appetite for 3rd way - a constituency that existed only because its Thatcherite predecessor had ultimately proved, for many people, to be both economically ineffective and socially unacceptable.
Labour’s economy
- Economy New Labour inherited was simultaneously prosperous and in trouble - living standers were higher than they had ever been - if the UK economy was in decline, it was only in a decline relative to the superior performance of its competitors.
- By 1997, the UK was predominantly a service economy. (76% of workers) – deindustrialisation had taken a heavy toll on manufacturing jobs, with twice as many now working in retailing / banking as in manufacturing.
economic norms in 1997 society
- New Labour inherited a society in which the vast majority of potential voters were used to the high and rising standards of personal consumption of the long post-war boom.
- New labour faced a working class whose members largely shared the concerns of middle England. - a working class less likely to be unionized, more likely to own its own home and transport.
- Women now tended to work outside the home, and there were more women in higher education than men. Women were now no longer predisposed to vote Conservative, so there was no gender voting gap.
1997 economic disparity
- Large regional disparities in unemployment, wealth and poverty, health, life expectancy, and education. In 1997, GDP per capita was only 80% of the national average in the North East of England, whereas London exceeded the national average by 25%.
- 1/3 children were living below the official poverty line (compared to just 1/10 in 1979).
*
classic Labour thinker- Crosland
- Tony Crosland, the party’s prime purpose was to promote ‘wider social equality embracing also the distribution of property, the educational system, social class relationships, power and privilege in industry’.
he died in 1977
pre-existing party policy -eq of opportunity in higher education
- The Open University was established to provide another means by which a university education could be acquired by those beyond the school leaving age.
Hugh Gaitskell way of thinking- traditional Labour
maintained, a per-son’s life-chances, his ‘income, way of living, education, status and opportunities in life depend[ed] upon the class into which he is born’.
Party leader 1955
pre-existing party policy -eq of opportunity in education
- a general recognition that educational standards could only be raised if more money became available and during the 1964–70 Labour Government spending rose substantially from 4.8 per cent to 6.1 per cent of national wealth.
- The 1974 election manifestos committed the party to speed-up the phasing out of selection, give more priority to pre-school education and provide better education and training facilities for those who left full-time education at the age of 16.
- By the time Labour left office in 1979 in most parts of the country comprehensives dominated secondary education.
pre-existing party policy -eq of opportunity in pensions
- In 1976 legislation was enacted tying increases in pensions with rises in wages rather than prices – the effect being a significant and sustained improvement in the material conditions of pensioners, who figured disproportionately among the poor (this was not cozzy lives times)
Cronin on what Labour stood for
- Cronin has argued that economic collectivism so defined constituted the common intellectual framework for the party at large (until the rise of New Labour).
Harris on post war Labour
- Harris- The principal institutional manifestation of collectivism, was not planning or public ownership but the social democratic welfare state ‘defined in terms of citizenship rights distributed outside market according to the principle of socially recognised need, whose fulfilment was a matter of justice’. the post-war Labour Government to extend rights of citizenship to the social sphere. All citizens should enjoy a corpus of social rights extending from the ‘right to a modicum of economic welfare and security to the right to share to the full in the social heritage and to live the life of a civilised being according to standards prevailing in society’.
signs of moderation in Labour pre 1997 - welfare
- In 1967 the Pensions minister, Peggy Herbison, proposed to increase family allowances (a universal benefit) while clawing back part of the additional cost by raising tax for the better-off. A large slice of the cabinet, including the Chancellor, Jim Callaghan and Crosland preferred a means-tested approach.
signs of moderation in Labour pre 1997 -spending on welfare
- in the late 1970s, the egalitarian consensus in the party favouring greater equality through a combination of high public spending and progressive taxation began to fracture as a significant section of the right queried both their economic benefits and even their moral justification. ‘Socialism and equality’:
o Crosland still maintained in 1974, ‘require a relative transfer of resources from private consumption to public expenditure’.
o Others on the party’s right –notably Roy Jenkins and his allies (most of whom were to defect to the Social Democratic Party in the early 1980s) – argued that the proportion of the nation’s wealth spent on social programmes was beginning to exceed the socially, politically and economically acceptable.
divergence in old Labour over economic control
- Pamore- Labour’s National Executive Committee fell under the control of the left in the early 1970s and the outcome was the incorporation into the manifestos of 1974 of commitments towards extended public ownership and an elaborate system of planning, but this had very little influence on the policies pursued by the 1974–79 Government. Even in their most radical phases Labour governments were ‘prepared to leave large swathes of the economy subject to market forces and private control’ with ‘the bulk of economic activity in private hands’.
strength of clause 4 pre Blair
- Lord (Harold) Lever observed, ‘Clause 4 or no Clause 4, Labour’s leadership plainly believes in a mixed economy’ for ‘it knows as well as any businessman that an engine which runs on profit cannot run faster without extra fuel’.
pre Blair Labour and keynsianism
- Shaw- The aim of successive Labour governments, however much they intervened in the economy (then, anyway, generally in vogue) was emphatically not ‘to suppress market forces but to regulate them via Keynesian demand-management with its primary social purpose being secured through a universal welfare state’
Labour and the ethos of public services
- The maintenance of a large and expanding public sphere, governed by an ethic of public service, came therefore to be seen as the principal institutional expression of ethical socialist values… As Gordon Brown was later to note, ‘a well-established ethos of public service rightly runs deep in our history, determines the character of our country, defines Britain’s uniqueness to the world’.
Kinnock - moderate internationally
Abandoned nuclear disarmament and was no longer opposed to membership of the EU
Kinnock
1983-92
change in Labour ideology under Kinnock
- Rooted out the Trotskyist ‘Militant Tendency’ entryists – Kinnock attacked them in his speech at the 1985 Party Conference and, following the 1987 defeat, the NEC expelled their activists and the two MPs who supported them.
- Atkins- Ideology - Kinnock initiated a gradual shift from state socialism to a version of European social democracy.
Kinnock’s rebranding of Labour
- Re-branding – appointed Peter Mandelson as Labour’s Director of Communications (effectively ‘spin doctor’), replaced the red flag (symbolised communism / revolution) with the red rose as the Party’s logo, and changed the colour of its campaign material from red to grey.
Smith - internal party reforms
stronger Leader, central control of local associations, weaker NEC, and weaker trade unions
At the 1993 Party Conference, Smith narrowly won the vote to introduce ‘One Member One Vote’ (OMOV) for parliamentary selections, thus removing the union bloc vote.
growth of power for Labour leader pre Blair
- Blair’s predecessors - had incrementally reset power relationships within the party, to free the leader to shape policy in a significantly greater way than hitherto. The Leader’s Office had been created and developed. The National Executive Committee had been restructured and emasculated. The weight of union bloc votes and party conferences had been significantly reduced.
expression for desire of Blair as a strong individual leader in campaign
- Appointed Peter Mandelson as Labour’s election campaign director for 1997, and Alastair Campbell as Press Secretary 1997-2000 (later Director of Communications and Strategy 2000-03) – Campbell was permitted to give orders to civil servants, who had previously taken instructions only from ministers.
How was Blair portrayed in 1997 election
Blair was portrayed as a charismatic and energetic leader who could inspire confidence and optimism in voters. His youthful appearance, eloquent speaking style, and media savvy were highlighted as assets that set him apart from his political rivals.- played on the fact he was 43, a family man etc.
Blair on clause IV
announced in Blair’s first speech to Party Conference as leader
called for the constitution’s Clause IV commitment to socialism to be updated, which it was in April 1995 (this is seen as the defining moment when ‘old’ Labour became New Labour)
The original Clause IV (1918) called for “common ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange”.
o The new Clause IV (1995): Labour aims to create “a community in which power, wealth and opportunity are in the hands of the many, not the few, where the rights we enjoy reflect the duties we owe, and where we live together, freely, in a spirit of solidarity, tolerance and respect.”
Blair’s first manifesto
- Blair had his modernising manifesto ‘New Labour, New Life for Britain’ approved by the 1996 Conference – he was not constitutionally bound to do so, but wanted the Party to feel invested in the manifesto (image / style as important as substance).
economic continuation of Labour from Tories
- Gordon Brown pledged to match Conservative spending commitments for two years to demonstrate Labour’s economic competence (even though the image of Conservative competence had been greatly damaged by ‘Black Wednesday’ when Britain dropped out of the ERM in 1992).
Third way according to Giddens
- He made 10 points
- modernising entre left drawing ‘zeal’ from left and right simultaneously.
- Democratic state with open international politics, participatory government which empowers citizens. Democratic family eg coparenting, gender equality +diversity and inclusion
- Active and engaged civil society – community based initiatives.
- New mixed economy - public-private partnerships, private finance initiatives, and the incentivization of consumer-friendly public service provision.
- Equality of opportunity (room for self-improvement) not equality of outcome
- A commitment to extending cosmopolitan values into international arenas through a democratization of the institutions of global governance.
wording of third way as a political tool
- The ideas followed the politics (similar to Thatcherism and New Liberalism) – the ideology was just to provide a rationale for what the Party wanted to do for independent reasons (e.g. electoral reasons, to attract ‘middle England’ and the ‘aspirational working class’).
o We might see New Labour as a ‘Downsian’ electoral project–according to Downs, a rational (vote-maximising) Party will align itself with the median voter, thus securing half the votes between it and the second Party, and also all the votes on its other side.
reasons to not make third way an ideology
- Having a clearly defined ideology conflicts with building a large electoral coalition:
Labour’s commitment to the third way as an ideology
o Statements of the ideology varied according to the audience being addressed – e.g. very different to Conference and to the trade unions. Atkins: New Labour appealed beyond its traditional supporters by enabling individuals to “project their own hopes and meanings onto the New Labour project”.
third way as pragmatic
Giddens- Third way politics is above all an endeavour to respond to change.
o Since the electorate had shifted, New Labour shifted in response to it, which was an unfamiliar tactic for Labour – it had normally prioritised ideological purity over electability, and had normally refused to talk about ‘Tory issues’ (e.g. crime / the economy / patriotism), whereas New Labour did not have any ‘no-go’ areas.
third way as a representation of political change
- Ideological platforms of the parties became more similar
- Competition between them became more focused on a narrow range of ‘swing’ seats and voters
- Politicians standing for office became more similar in background and outlook.
* Transition from ideological, class based political competition to managerial, performance based competition was a major structural change enacted during New Labour government
* Blair - ideological moderation a central part of his party reform agenda - weakening Labour’s links to the working class and left-wing ideology to boost Labour’s appeal to middle-class swing voters.
two different versions of new Labour
o Blairites and Brownites differed both in their goals and in their intellectual rationale for those goals.
o Blairites generally favoured free markets where possible, and regulation where necessary; Brownites were more in favour of the state sector supplementing the private sector to correct market failure.
key beliefs of the third way -
o Belief that the state is still important in social affairs (i.e. traditionally left-wing social policies, but combined with a new belief in free-market economics
o Belief in equality of opportunity rather than outcome - This ‘conditionality’ of rights (no rights without responsibilities) made some on the Labour left uneasy.
o Atikns - Endorsed an approach to foreign policy that was founded on international cooperation - states working together not only to fight or prevent wars, but also to tackle common problems, such as drugs, terrorism and organised crime
key beliefs of the third way- the state
o Belief that the state is still important in social affairs (i.e. traditionally left-wing social policies, but combined with a new belief in free-market economics (i.e. traditionally right-wing economics) – this was a big change from Labour’s outlook ever since WW1, and was reversed from 2010 onwards by Miliband / Corbyn.
key beliefs of the third way- community
o Shaw - interest in striving ‘to create instead a socialist community based on fellowship, co-operation and service’ has been quite thoroughly dissipated. The conclusion reached in this account is that such a belief has in fact been banished to the outer edges of the party’s ruling creed.
key beliefs of the third way- eq of opportunity
o Belief in equality of opportunity rather than outcome (New Labour’s language looked a lot like New Liberal language before 1914) – e.g. a key focus on education to promote human capital; and the ‘Welfare to Work’ policy attempted to stimulate job creation in depressed areas by insisting that those on welfare applied for jobs, rather than just relied on receiving universal benefits.
This ‘conditionality’ of rights (no rights without responsibilities) made some on the Labour left uneasy.
- Gordon Brown - “the essence of equality is equality of opportunity” and government has a fundamental responsibility to pursue this objective.
- Departure with ideology of Old Labour - notion of equality linked to equality of outcome.
key beliefs of the third way-foreign policy
o Atikns - Endorsed an approach to foreign policy that was founded on international cooperation - states working together not only to fight or prevent wars, but also to tackle common problems, such as drugs, terrorism and organised crime.
left-wing criticism of third way
It is essentially right-wing philosophy presented in a more attractive light, and therefore shies away from radicalism.
It advocates a ‘politics without adversaries’, so ends up accepting the world as it is rather than truly seeking to transform it.
It has no principled answer to the problem of rising unemployment – it either has to move to the left (raise taxes and borrow), or move further to the right (being ‘fiscally responsible’) and accept rising unemployment.
It does not care about class divisions – Mandelson said in 1998 that New Labour was “intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich”.
academic critique of third way
Shaw: it creates the flawed idea of a single ‘old’ Labour (in reality it had always debated about state intervention / fiscal policy / Europe etc.), and exaggerates the coherence of New Labour, which evolved over time.
who argued that New Labour was an accommodation of Thatcherism
Colin Hay
New Labour as an accommodation of Thatcherism - economically
- Accepts reduced borrowing, privatisation, flexible labour markets, reduced union power, low inflation, certain benefit cuts etc.
- Coates- the quintessential New Labour assumption is that the globalization of capital sets strict constraints on the kind of policies that can be contemplated by centre-left governments. In this respect, New Labour can be seen as influenced by neo-liberal political economy.
New Labour’s economics as not just Neo-liberal
Coates emphasises the influence of so-called ‘new growth theory’ on New Labour. This is the ‘post neo-classical endogenous growth theory’ famously lampooned by Michael Heseltine. The political moral Blair and Brown derived from this strand of economic theory was that successful modern economies require highly skilled, well-paid workers to be competitive in the new global economy.
third way as Thatcherite - welfare
- Aims to reduce poverty and unemployment, but not truly a socialist agenda–e.g. does not especially care about the gap between rich and poor (though this is arguably not actually out of line with Labour throughout much of its history).
third way as Thatcherite -state
- Tough on crime, and keen to maintain law and order.
third way as Thatcherite - international policy
- Willing to support the military goals of the USA(which was especially controversial when it came to the invasion of Iraq in 2003).
- The Conservative opposition under Hague / Duncan Smith / Howard was divided and weak, and they unreservedly supported the Iraq War in 2003.
New Labour as a return to old Labour strategies - unions
o E.g. Gaitskell had been trying to reduce union power, and confront the age-old dilemma of how to balance economic efficiency with social justice.
New Labour as a return to old Labour strategies - welfare
- Shaw- far from repudiating key propositions of redistributive social democracy, New Labour has reaffirmed many of them. This is above all manifested in the centrality to its programme of the concepts of social inclusion and widening opportunities
o drive to reduce child poverty, the provision of extra support for the disadvantaged through programmes such as Sure Start, the National Childcare Strategy, the various employment New Deals, multiple efforts to boost educational attainment and skills to improve life chances for all.
- Number 10 advisor Peter Hyman declared, where ‘the [New Labour]‘‘project’’ is heading, the renewal of public services provides the answer’(Hyman, 2005: 170). ‘Renewal’ meant ensuring the survival of well-funded collective institutions as the main suppliers of key public goods and ser-vices, on the basis of need rather than ability to pay.
New Labour as not incompatible with old Labour
- Coates- The state therefore has an important role to play in correcting the hitherto endemic weaknesses of the British economy on this score, raising the underlying rate of economic growth by increasing investment in education, health, and research and development, and by reducing the high unemployment that wastes valuable ‘human capital’. According to this analysis, economic efficiency and social justice are therefore complementary objectives
*
New Labour as a middle path
the old equilibrium (of mixed economy- labour and capital, producer and consumer, state and market), was beyond repair or recovery but the new Thatcherite one was equally unacceptable. New Labour synthesis that emerged is a hybrid, a yoking together of two ‘thematics’, one ‘more or less classically social-democratic’, pursuing the traditional values of equality, social welfare and full employment, the other neo-liberal, ‘extolling market logic, monetary stability, labour market flexibility, lower taxation, privatisation, and deregulation’
New labour as an alternative moderate voice
- Coates presents Blair’s Labour Party as Janus-faced, speaking with two distinct voices since 1997: a traditional social democratic voice committed to the public realm and repairing the social damage inflicted by Thatcherism, and a self-consciously novel voice committed to structural reform to the public services and purporting to chart a fresh path beyond old left-right polarities
Julian Le Grand on what New Labour is
Seeks to identify the values that constitute New Labour’s ideological platform- community, opportunity, responsibility and accountability
Ruth Lister on what New Labour is
Seeks to identify the values that constitute New Labour’s ideological platform-proposes ‘RIO’ - responsibility, inclusion and opportunity.
freeden on what New Labour is
Seeks to identify the values that constitute New Labour’s ideological platform- - identifies community as a core concept, alongside equal worth, opportunity for all, responsibility, social justice and cohesion.
- New Labour’s core concept of equal worth - moral equality of all individuals, regardless of such contingent factors as gender, age, ethnicity or sexuality. Blair - “common humanity demands that everyone be given a platform on which to stand”
Giddens- New Labour revived social democracy - continuity
- The goals are the same as Labour has always had (e.g. welfare / equality / social justice), but New Labour has a new flexibility about means.
o Blair said while steering the reform of Clause 4 through a party conference: “Our values do not change. Our commitment to a different vision of society stands intact. But the ways of achieving that vision must change. - Coates- aspirations to those of earlier Labour ‘revivalists’ such as Harold Wilson. The difference between them, he suggests, lies in the instruments that the current Labour leadership see as necessary and feasible for the pursuit of these aspirations.
Labour had different means to Thatcher
- Thatcherism was about freeing people from the demands of the state / reducing the culture of dependency, but New Labour did not see conflict between the state and individuality – it was keen for state intervention (particularly Brownites).
New Labour’s main policy were just actually new
- Commitments to constitutional reform were unusual for Labour governments, and definitely not Thatcherite; commitments to reducing inequality / poverty / unemployment were usual for Labour, but also definitely not Thatcherite.
4 concepts of New Labour
- New Labour is an accommodation of Thatcherism (similar to the Conservatives accepting the ‘post-war consensus’ in the 1950s) eg Colin Hay
- New Labour is a return to ‘old’ Labour strategies, and is not that ‘new’ at all:
- New Labour as a middle way
- New Labour revived social democracy (Giddens):
(4 is distinct as idea ambitions were same but means were different)
Blair’s desire for economic disparity was new
- Coates- One of the central themes of Prolonged Labour is the historic abandonment of egalitarianism by the Blair government. Coates complains that the gap between the richest and poorest widened under New Labour, a consequence of Blair’s meritocratic conviction that government should simply enable individuals to improve their education and skills so that they can participate in the labour market and achieve the best for themselves and their families.
Blair on private sector
- Coates- New Labour’s receptiveness to private- sector involvement in delivering public services and its aim to make those services consumer-oriented.
Ambiguity of New Labour
- Stuart Hall - inherent ambiguities within New Labour’s Third Way precluded it from being a clearly defined political project
- Hall - argues that unlike Thatcherism, New Labour was not a hegemonic project. - Thatcherites had a clearly defined political programme; while Blair’s true historic project was to adjust the British people to the legacy of Thatcherism
primary concern with 1997 manifesto
- The 1997 manifesto was principally concerned with infrastructure, taxation, and expenditure. In social terms, much of New Labour developed in office.
economic caution of Labour
Operational freedom / independence for the Bank of England’s MPC to use interest rates to meet an inflation target.
Rules-based fiscal policy – the ‘Golden Rule’ (adopted in 1998) stated that, “over the course of the economic cycle, the government will borrow only to invest and not to fund current spending” (i.e. day-to-day spending must be funded with today’s taxes); and the ‘Sustainable Investment Rule’ required the government the government to keep debt at a “prudent level” (currently set at below 40% of GDP each year).
Gordon Brown (Chancellor) pledged to match the Conservatives’ spending plans for the first two years.
Refused to increase income tax at all during the first term (though rates of National Insurance were increased).
reason for economic caution of New Labour
increased confidence / stability and led to the support of the City of London
NI and Blair
o Negotiated the Good Friday Agreement 1998, a key part of the Northern Ireland peace process – allowed for power-sharing between nationalists and unionists, and was described as an “exclusively peaceful and democratic” framework.
Welfare policies in New Labour first term
o 1998 introduction (and then increase) of the Minimum Wage.
Devolution pledges in manifesto
o Constitutional reforms, which had been promised pre-election due to the possibility of coalition with the Liberal Democrats (see notes below), in particular devolution to Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
New Labour first term policies on crime and
o Introduced ASBOs in 1999 to deter antisocial behaviour before it became criminal, as part of the commitment to be “tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime”.
Though, by criminalising ASBO breaches, the policy actually accelerated, rather than prevented, the introduction of teenagers into the criminal justice system.
employment policy in New Labour first term
o The 1998 ‘New Deal’ aimed to reduce unemployment by providing training, subsidised employment and voluntary work to the unemployed, funded by a one- off £5bn ‘windfall tax’ on privatised utility companies (thus not breaking the income tax pledge – Brown also circumvented this pledge through ‘stealth taxes’ like increased petrol duty and the abolition of mortgage tax relief).
Blair on Europe in first term
- Blair wanted Britain to join the Euro, but he was persuaded not to by Brown. Before the anti-Euro policy was confirmed, the Sun ran a front-page headline about Blair asking “Is this the most dangerous man in Britain?”
Blair first term international intervention
- Declared the Kosovo War in 1999 and intervened in the Sierra Leone Civil War in 2000.
Blair’s government style
o Greatly expanded the Prime Minister’s Office and the Cabinet Office.
o Had a casual ‘sofa-style’ of government, relying on an inner core of advisors(often seen as ‘presidential’) rather than on big collaborative Cabinet meetings.
income growth under Blair
o The real income of the average Briton grew 18% during Blair’s premiership (1997- 2007), and 2m were lifted out of poverty.
Domestic agenda of Blair’s second term
- Reform of public services dominated the second-term domestic agenda:
Public service spending - Blair’s second term
o Increased public spending by 4.8% in real terms.
Blair’s second term - shift public sector governance towards voluntary endeavour, whether by individuals / families / other non-state institutions
Embraced the Conservatives’ Private Finance Initiative (PFI), in which the private sector invests in capital projects (e.g. new schools) and the government then rents the facility from the private sector.
Over 600 PFI deals were signed 1997-2004, creating ‘public-private partnerships’ (PPPs), and thus bringing private sector investment, skills, and expertise. E.g. in 2001, the government signed a deal with Bupa to lease a number of its hospitals for NHS work; and, when the railways were in need of investment, Labour made Railtrack a PPP rather than renationalising it.
education - continuity from Thatcher
Retained the Conservatives’ basic architecture, e.g. the National Curriculum and Ofsted.
Blair and school independence
Brought back grant-maintained schools in the form of ‘foundation schools’ with more autonomy.
Made plans for independent state schools (city academies) – by 2005, 17 new academies were open.
Blair higher education
Introduced higher education tuition fees in 1998 (£1,000) and increased them in 2004 (£3,000). This was highly criticised by the Labour left who believed it would damage participation and create class division (seemed inconsistent with equality of opportunity) – the Higher Education Act 2004 only passed by 5 votes due to a large-scale backbench rebellion.
Blair national control of education
Did not trust the free market to raise standards, so introduced national literacy and numeracy targets.
Blair- independence in NHS
Replaced the competitive internal market with a collaborative network of local health professionals.
Blair on health spending
2002 spending review promised record spending on the NHS, and pledged that Labour would match average EU health spending by 2006.
Blair on national control of health
Implemented targets for A&E waiting times, time to see a GP, number of beds, number of doctors etc.
Established care trusts to combine health and social care.
Blair on tax credits
in second term - Introduced tax credits (government top-ups to the pay of low-wage workers).
LGBT rights and Blair
o Expanded LGBT rights:
Age of consent for homosexuals equalised at 16.
Lifted the ban on gay people serving in the armed forces.
Repealed ‘Section 28’ in 2003.
The Civil Partnership Act 2004 allowed same-sex couples to obtain essentially the same rights and responsibilities as those who are married (e.g. property rights, tax exemptions, parental responsibility, next of kin rights in hospitals etc.). Although the Marriage Act 2013 legalised full same-sex marriage in England and Wales, civil partnership remains available.
Legalised adoption by gay couples
Blair on Iraq
o Blair controversially aligned himself with President Bush in supporting the Iraq War (2003) as a result of dubious evidence that Saddam Hussein had WMDs:
The belief in the existence of WMDs was largely based on a PhD thesis from the internet cited without attribution. Many(including the UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan)considered it illegal and a violation of the UN Charter, leading to widespread protests at the time, and the recent Chilcot Inquiry.
Over 1m demonstrated against the war.
A Guardian poll revealed that 64% of the British population believed that Blair’s decision to wage war in Iraq led indirectly to the 7/7 terrorist attacks in 2005.
In an interview with David Frost in 2006, Blair appeared to agree with Frost’s assessment that the war had been “pretty much a disaster”.
disunity in Labour during second term
Division over education and healthcare reforms (see above).
Division over identity cards.
Controversy over the Iraq War.
Blair’s poll ratings fell after 2003, and Brown demanded that he step aside. In 2004, Blair announced he would not seek a fourth term.
Blair on immigration
Blair governments saw immigration positively as a resource they could use to drive economic growth. Although they never had a fully coherent migration strategy, the broad operating principle of the first two New Labour governments was to seek a more open migration policy to attract newcomers to Britain and boost growth.
Migrant arrivals rose above 500,000 per annum by 2002 and have remained above this level ever since.
Public concerns about immigration, which had been low for around 2 decades, began to rise in tandem with this acceleration in arrivals.
unrest in Britain at start of Blair’s third term
- The 7/7 (July 2005) London bombings occurred early into the third term, distracting Blair from his Presidency of both the G8 and the Council of the EU.
May 2006 Local elections
Labour lost 317 seats and 18 councils
2007 Scottish Parliament elections
, Labour lost power to a minority SNP government. Blair resigned the next month and was replaced by Brown.
Labour popularity post Brown
o When Brown became PM, Labour experienced a brief rise in the polls (the ‘Brown Bounce’ with slogans like “Not Flash, Just Gordon”), but its popularity soon slumped to the lowest levels since the days of Michael Foot
Opinion polls cited only 23% support for Labour, its worst result since records began in 1943 – many cited Brown’s leadership as a key factor (e.g. he was accused of bullying).
Despite speculation of a snap election, Brown announced there would be no election in the near future, so Cameron accused him of ‘bottling it’.
may 2008 local elections
, Labour suffered heavy defeats in the London mayoral election, local elections, and the Crewe and Nantwich by-election.
fall in party membership with brown
Party membership fell to 156,000 by the end of 2009, which was just 40% of its 1997 peak. This decline was partly caused by the reduced influence of activists as a result of the internal Kinnock / Blair reforms.
Poverty in New Labour’s third term
o Poverty actually increased in the third term, from 12.1m (in 2005) to 12.7m.
decline in Labour’s finances
Partly as a result of the decline in Party membership.
A ‘cash for honours’ scandal under Blair led to donations drying up – in 2008, Labour received just half (£3m) that which the Conservatives received in donations.
In 2008, Labour was £17m in debt, whereas the Conservatives were £12m in debt.
o The financial crisis 2007-08 / subsequent recession:
Northern Rock and RBS were nationalised, and large sums of money were injected into several other banks, including the newly-merged HBOS-Lloyds TSB (received £17bn) – in total, the state invested £50bn into the banks themselves, aiming to restore market confidence.
Fiscal stimulus led to a significant rise in the deficit to an estimated £175bn in 2009-10, and an increase in the national debt from 40% to 80% of GDP – led to George Osborne (Shadow Chancellor) saying that Labour should “never be trusted” with people’s money again.
Liam Byrne (Chief Secretary to the Treasury under Brown) left a note for his successor saying “I’m afraid there is no money”.
Migration under Brown
2008-10: A ‘points-based’ system for labour migration was introduced - awarded migrants a series of credits based mainly on skills and qualifications. This made it harder for unskilled migrants to acquire visas. - doomed to failure as it could only be applied to migrants from outside the EU.
Devolution
o Following 1997 referenda, the 1998 devolution Acts devolved power to various regions of the UK, turning Britain “from a unitary into a quasi-federal state” (Bogdanor):
Scotland was given its own parliament (‘Holyrood’).
Wales was given its own assembly (‘Senedd’).
Northern Ireland was given its own assembly (‘Stormont’) following the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.
o Scottish and Welsh devolution referenda particularly motivated by 18 years of Conservative rule from Westminster, despite them being almost Tory-free zones
o Devolution was offered to the North-East of England, but this was rejected in a referendum.
regional government
o The London Assembly was created in 2000 with London now having its own mayor. 11 more directly-elected mayoralties were established in 2002, there are now 18 mayors in total
- Human Rights Act
1998 (HRA)
o Incorporates ECHR rights into UK law–resulted in the rights being ‘brought home’, enabling UK citizens to prosecute individuals, organisations, and government in UK courts, not just in the ECHR.
o Requires judges to take judgments of the ECtHR into account, and to interpret legislation in a way compatible with ECHR rights – if this is not possible, judges cannot strike down legislation, but can issue ‘declarations of incompatibility’.
o Bogdanor: this is the “cornerstone of the new constitution” (possibly because it greatly affects parliamentary sovereignty, which has been described as the “cornerstone of our democracy”).
House of Lords Act
1999- Removed all but 92 hereditary peers in an effort to make the House of Lords more accountable. In doing so, membership was reduced from 1,330 to 669 by March 2000, though there are now over 800 again.
- Freedom of Information Act
2000
* Made government more open by creating a public “right of access” to information held by public authorities.
* There are certain ‘qualified exemptions’ where the release of information is regarded not to be in the “public interest”, but these can be appealed to the Information Commissioner who has the power to order disclosure. There are also certain ‘absolute exemptions’ (e.g. matters relating to national security).
* Around 120,000 requests are made each year, with private citizens making 60%.
- Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act
2000 (PPERA)
o Created an independent Electoral Commission to regulate political parties and their funding arrangements.
o Required political parties to submit statements of their accounts on a regular basis (including the requirement for full disclosure of donations above £500, which must be from “permissible donors”), and prohibited donations from foreign / anonymous donors.
o Placed restrictions on campaign expenditure – the current limit for elections to Westminster is £30,000 per constituency, up to a maximum of £18.84m.
- Civil Contingencies Act 2004:
2004:
o Established a new, broadly-defined definition of ‘emergency’, including war or attack by a foreign power, terrorism which poses a serious security threat, and other events which threaten serious damage to human welfare.
o Broadened the number of bodies which have duties in the event of an emergency, and established a coherent framework for emergency planning and response.
o Previous legislation had been seen as unable to cope with the domestic threats of the fuel protests of 2000, mass flooding in 2000, and the outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease in 2001.
o Criticised by Pete Hitchens as ‘totalitarian’.
- Constitutional Reform Act
2005 (CRA):
o Created a UK Supreme Court, composed of 12 judges appointed for life, to replace the House of Lords as the court of final appeal.
o The existing Law Lords became the first Justices of the Supreme Court (JSCs),and all new Justices are given the courtesy title of Lord / Lady to ensure that there is no perceived hierarchy amongst the JSCs. Those JSCs who have seats in the Lords lost their rights to speak / vote in the Lords until their retirement from the Supreme Court.
o The Supreme Court sits in its own building in Parliament Square, separate from the Houses of Parliament.
o The Lord Chief Justice replaced the Lord Chancellor as head of the Judiciary of England and Wales.
Labour’s caution - long -term project not short term victory
- Electoral dominance ironically gave a reason for going slowly, not quickly – New Labour always expected / hoped to the a three-term government, which explains Brown’s spending commitments as Chancellor from 1997 (pledged to match the Conservatives for the first two years).
- Believed that they had to build up people’s confidence before radical change, especially following 18 years out of office.
- Believed that welfare spending had to be funded by strong economic growth, not the other way round – this explains why New Labour adopted a rules-based approach to economic management / made the Bank of England independent, as it wanted to encourage fiscal prudence
Labour’s caution - precarious electoral position
- There was no great social movement behind New Labour, like there was behind New Liberalism. It was an elite political project which had to ‘market’ itself effectively to voters.
- The electorate was de-aligned– attachment to New Labour was never that strong.
Labour’s caution - inherited Thatcher’s state machinery
- The state had lost a lot of its machinery/capacity to effect social change, whereas the Attlee governments were able to achieve so much having inherited the large-scale war machinery.
- This was similar to the Conservatives continuing the ‘post-war consensus’ as a result of inheriting machinery geared up for socialism in 1951.
- The New Labour perception was that certain constraints (e.g. economic constraints / electoral preferences) are fixed and cannot be changed – this was quite a pessimistic view about how constraints determine outcomes.
Labour’s caution - divisions in Labour
- Rivalry between Blair and Brown–partly ideological (about both ends and means), and partly personal (both wanted to be Leader / PM).
- Neither allowed the other to do exactly what they wanted, e.g. Brown stopped Blair from joining the Euro.
- Disputes led to stand-offs, producing ‘caution’ as an end-product.
amount of legislation enacted under Labour
- Between 1997 and 2007 (i.e. under Blair), New Labour enacted 382 Acts of Parliament, including:
o 10 Health Acts.
o 12 Education Acts.
o 29 Criminal Justice Acts.
o Created more than 3,000 new criminal offences. - In the year 2006 alone, 5,000 pages of primary legislation were enacted, with an additional 11,500 pages of secondary legislation made by ministers.
Lord Bingham - effect of New Labour’s extensive legislation
- It makes the lawless accessible (harder to discover and understand)–since there is no central database of all statutes / case law relating to a certain area, even lawyers / judges are sometimes unable to find all the relevant law, let alone members of the public!
- Though New Labour sought to improve the rule of law through its various constitutional reforms (see notes below), it actually inadvertently undermined it – accessibility of the law is the first of Lord Bingham’s 8 principles constituting the rule of law.
alienation of Tories leading to Labour success
- Although the Conservatives were traditionally seen as the Party of competence, this image had been damaged by ‘Black Wednesday’ (when the UK dropped out of the ERM in 1992), and by the series of ‘sleaze’ scandals under Major.
- People voted for New Labour not out of particular enthusiasm for the ‘third way’, but because they had been alienated from the Conservatives – over 2m Conservative supporters simply did not vote in 1997 (many were still angered by the way Thatcher had been deposed by a backbench rebellion).
How FPTP helped new Labour
- The 1997 election produced 418 seats (65.2%) but on only 43.2% of the vote.
- The 2005 election produced a majority of 66, but on the smallest ever popular vote share (35.2%) any Party had achieved whilst gaining a majority – the Conservatives achieved a greater vote share in 2010 but had to form a coalition!
Labour elections turnout
- 1992 - turnout 78%; 2001 - turnout 59%
why were voters disillusioned under labour
- Both Labour and Conservatives sought to make greater use of data and intelligence to improve their allocation of dwindling resources - campaigns became more centralised. Impact of these changes fell most heavily on safe Labour seats. Safe Conservative seats - relatively prosperous where politically engaged middle-class electorates could be relied upon to turn out in elections even if parties paid them little personal attention. Safe Labour seats - included many of the most deprived places in Britain.
- Ideological moderation, targeted campaigning and elite professionalisation have all eroded the link between voters and parties, and have particularly weakened the parties’ connections to those whose backgrounds and views were not reflected in the new political class. New Labour could afford to marginalise traditional partisans in its early years, as the governing party with a popular leader delivering popular policies, but the alienation of traditional supporters posed problems once times got tougher.
Blair on Cameron’s victory
It lost because it stopped being New Labour” (Blair):
Blair revolts
o Suffered big revolts on his own backbenches over:
i. City academies.
ii. The introduction of student fees in higher education (first £1,000, then increased to £3,000).
iii. The invasion of Iraq in 2003.
elements of New Labour still there in 2010
o Modern branding (e.g. rewritten Clause IV) was still in place.
o Continued to believe in free-market economics, and in equality of opportunity rather than outcome.
o Continued to attempt to make Britain a good partner in Europe, in contrast to the Conservative governments both before and after.
New Labour had gone by 2010 in some ways
o It abandoned some of its distinctive policies, e.g. the Golden Rule for fiscal policy was abandoned in 2009.
o Brown was a much less inspiring / charismatic leader than Blair and, in trying to differentiate himself, introduced policies which went against New Labour’s ethos – e.g. increased the lowest band of income tax from 10p to 20p, and the top rate to 50p. His unpopularity led to 8 Labour MPs calling for a leadership election just 15 months into his premiership.
o Even the Liberal Democrats were offering the familiar package of social democracy combined with largely free-market economics, so there was no longer anything distinctive about New Labour – during the 2010 election debates, Brown infamously said “I agree with Nick” 4 times.
factors outside of Labour control that led to downfall
- The 2008 financial crisis was not to do with the government–it was a global crash. * IMF - in October 2008 was forecasting world growth of 3% for 2009, was no forecasting growth of close to 0. - last three months of 2008 the world economy had shrunk for the first time since 1945 - Japan, America, Germany and most of Europe including the UK in recession
- Although New Labour was responsible for entering the wars in Afghanistan (2001) and Iraq (2003), it could not have foreseen how long they would last – by 2010, voters perceived them as a grave mistake.
Darling on New Labour’s legacy
global success, domestic failure
inconsistency of pre Blair Labour
- As Crosland noted, the Labour party was ‘not founded on any body of doctrine at all, and has always preserved a marked anti-doctrinal and anti-theoretical bias’ (Crosland, 1964: 80). From its origins it was steeped in the highly empirical, practical, down-to-earth culture of British trade unionism. Further, the party has always been proud to boast that it is a ‘broad church’ embracing a medley of different ideas, aspirations and ethical codes. There has never been, as Crosland added, ‘a single constant and consistent body of socialist doctrine’.
inconsistency of constitutional reform
- PR was introduced for the devolved bodies, but the plurality FPTP system was retained for elections to the House of Commons. If parliamentary accountability had been a priority, it may have been better to focus on reforming the Commons in line with the new devolved bodies rather than on reforming the Lords.
- The devolution settlements were extremely ‘asymmetric’: the Scottish Parliament is by far the most powerful of the devolved institutions; the Welsh Assembly is by far the least powerful, having the ability only to pass secondary legislation; and the fact that there were no parallel arrangements for England gave renewed importance to the West Lothian Question.
inconsistency of HoL reform
o It is bizarre that 92 hereditary peers were allowed to retain their seats.
o The ‘second stage’ of reform to make the chamber “more democratic and more accountable” never happened
incoherence of constitutional reform under New Labour
- Russell: the government never issued a White Paper articulating an “overall vision” of what it was seeking to achieve with its reform programme.
- Oliver: there was “no master plan or coherent programme for reform”.
constitutional reform did fit in with Blair’s priorities
- HRA and the establishment of the Supreme Court gave more power to the judiciary to protect individuals against centralised government.
- Devolution, FOIA, House of Lords reform, and party funding reforms all had the aim of returning power back from the government to the people at large.
protected parliamentary sovereignty
o The devolved bodies are all technically subservient to Westminster.
o Despite the FOIA, parliament can still refuse the publication of information whose release would be against the ‘public interest’.
o The Supreme Court’s powers are limited merely to declaring ‘incompatibility’ – parliament technically retains the ability to ignore these declarations if it so wishes.
o the creation of bodies of law with supposedly ‘superior’ constitutional status (EU law, ECHR rights, and the Devolution settlements) has arguably undermined parliamentary sovereignty in practice: they have been held not to be subject to the ordinary doctrine of implied repeal; and declarations of incompatibility do in reality force legislation to be changed (e.g. the Belmarsh case)
Belmarsh case
2004- the indefinite detention of foreign prisoners in. was incompatible with HRA
2005 - prevention of terrosim act allowed detention anyone with a control order
Brown’s repsonse to financial crisis
financial services authority creeated to regulate financial institutions
recapitalisation of the banks
Brown and new deal
Brown continued and expanded the new deal reducing unemployment by providing training and employment opps for young people
Brown and NHS
Brown commited to annual budegt increases for the NHS. multi year funding settlements which provided sustained investment over several years
public health initiatives to tackle obesity, smoking etc.
NHS constitution was est. outlining rights and responsibilities of patients and healthcare providers- emphasising patient centred care and accountability (echoes of blair’s patient choice)
foundation trusts
introduced Foundation Trusts as autonomous, self-governing public benefit corporations within the NHS to give NHS providers greater freedom, flexibility, and responsibility for managing their affairs, resources, performance, and services, and promoting innovation, improvement, and excellence in healthcare delivery, while ensuring public ownership, accountability, and protection of NHS assets, values, and principles
NHS foundation trusts were introduced following the “Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Act 2003.” This legislation aimed to give successful NHS trusts greater freedom from central government control and allow them to become self-governing organizations
