Economy for the doorstep

Your quick guide to Labour’s record and the Tories’ performance since May

What Labour did in the recession: D

 eficit down by £10 billion
 abour acted to save jobs, personal savings and retail
L Lower than previously thought (£156 billion from
banking. Unlike in Iceland, no British person lost their £166.5 billion).
savings and the cash machines continued to work. 1.2 per cent growth
Brought forward £3 billion capital spend (on things like Higher than previous growth projections in the
new schools and hospitals). second quarter.
Cut VAT to 15 per cent, helping families, pensioners
and small businesses.
The strategy that Labour followed was agreed and Tory tricks and the government
pursued by President Obama and the G20. ‘emergency budget’
George Osborne in his emergency budget:
x2 doubled the cuts
Labour and the deficit: (Labour £44 billion of planned cuts were dwarfed
 e are open that these actions increased the deficit.
W by the Tories’ £86 billion).
This was done to save jobs, services and ensure a VAT up to 20 per cent
recession didn’t become a depression. (despite Liberal Democrat promises).
B
 ut remember that in 2007, before the recession hit, the
deficit under Labour was lower than it was in every year but
one of the Tories’ fourth term in office under John Major.
The impact of Tory cuts and
tax rises:
Impact of recession less than predicted: 0 .6 per cent negative growth in the last quarter
of 2010.
Unemployment never reached three million
The VAT rise will cost families with children £450 this
(as it had been predicted to and had done in the previous
year alone.
Tory recessions).
Tax credits and child benefit frozen from April.
1980-81 recession Unemployment
 has now risen beyond 2.5 million –
12 the first time it has done so in 17 years, when the
Rate of unemployment %

Conservatives were last in power.

8 1990-91 recession
2008-09 recession
4
1 2 3 4
Years after start of recession
 House repossessions 39 per cent less than predicted
May 2010 – the economy they inherited:
The government argues that its actions are necessary
because when they saw the books things were worse. But
Budget 2011: hurting, but
not working
O
 sborne’s claim that his income tax changes will give
5 people an extra £326 each year is false. Once inflation
is taken into account, the true figure is just £48. And
it’s of no benefit to those earning less than the personal
allowance figure of £7,475.
O
 sborne’s suggestion that he’s cutting 1p off the price
of a litre of fuel is untrue. The VAT rise has added nearly
3p to the cost of a litre of petrol – around £1.35 to the
cost of filling up a 50-litre tank.
O
 sborne’s sleight of hand on the winter fuel allowance
will cost pensioners up to £100 this winter, as he failed
Peter Dazeley/Getty Images

really the figures were showing: to maintain it at the level of the last two winters.

Progress April 2011 15