Tony Blair's Legacy

Inspired by the three accounts on the BBC, I thought I would write my own How will history judge Tony Blair?

Economics:

Inflation is today at its highest in six years, 5.5%, causing problems for first time buyers and current mortgage payers, as well as other personal lending. Personal debt is now at a record high of £3.8 trillion and the government has little to offer on improving this situation. Blair seems quite happy with this level of debt.

There is a greater divide between rich and poor in the UK than ever before, with the wealthy having better access to services and those less well off with less access to services that would improve their lives.

Students are in debt to the tune of £16 billion, following the scrapping of grants in favour of huge loans and the introduction of tuition fees and the government have dipped into this pot several times since Labour came to power in 1997 to bail themselves out.

Health, education and transport:

Controvertial school reforms, poor funding distribution in the NHS and grossly unpopular foundation hospitals all speak for themselves. Lack of improvement to public transport and road charges widely regarded as a stealth tax leave many Britons confused as to the Labour party's attitude towards climate change; despite the rhetoric about needing to act on the issue, the UK's emmissions continue to rise year after year.

Pensions:

The labour party's treatment of pensions is under serious criticism. Blair has always backed Brown on this issue so is also to blame for the failings. In all of these economic issues, we do of course have to credit Gordon Brown with the appropriate responsibility for Labour's fuck ups, and he's our next PM. Oh joy.

Iraq:

Tony Blair will be most vividly remembered for his defiance of international and domestic opinion in invading Iraq and the extended period of conflict following that and the previous invasion of Afghanistan. His blind obedience to US President G.W. Bush has marked him in a negative way in many people's eyes.

ID Cards:

Tony Blair has pushed through his proposals for this huge waste of public funding, breaking the law on requested reports and repeatedly lying about the supposed benefits of the scheme. We can only hope that this scheme will also leave with his departure.

The Liberal Democrats have today called for a General Election to detirmine the next UK PM. This move has been criticised as there is no historical basis for such a request, despite the fact that according to a poll last week most voters want an election.

The democratic system in the UK is stale and no longer relevant for people. So what if there is no historical basis? We need electoral reform in this country, now is the perfect time to implement it. Labour have got away for too long with this Presidential style of leadership, with Tony Blair refusing to change his proposals in the face of opposition from his own party. The last 2 elections Labour have kept their place in government despite increasingly low percentage of the vote (tweaking constituency boudaries where they need to).

People are uninspired by politics, low turn outs demonstrate this clearly. However, the absence of an "none of the above" option on the ballot may be to blame to an extent we cannot judge. If this option were present how many more people would turn out to register their disatisfaction with the options, rather than being counted as apathetic?

It's time for change.