It is now time for Labour to ask why their £28bn increase in the tax burden has not already delivered the goods. In constantly stressing the need for higher taxes and better public services, Tony Blair has only ever delivered on one of these items. As the years roll by, it becomes less and less credible for him to expect people to accept ever higher taxes as a necessary pill to swallow, to ignore his record on public services to date and to take his promises of better public services for the future on trust.
At the time of Labour's first comprehensive spending review, in 1998, we were told that the "£40bn more" being announced for health and education would cut waiting lists and lead to smaller class sizes, and that Labour was delivering manifesto commitments "line by line".
Continue reading...