As a seasoned observer over the decades, I’ve become accustomed to seeing political spin and the peddling of false narratives. But, even I, have been taken aback by what I’ve seen since the new Labour government came into office.
Make no mistake, what we are seeing now is a concerted spinning operation to rewrite recent history and create a false narrative about pretty much everything that has been passed to the Labour government from the previous Conservative government.
Labour falsely claims they've inherited the worst set of circumstances since the Second World War. To prove them wrong, you don't have to go back to 1945, you only have to go back to 2010. When the Conservatives took over from Labour in 2010, unemployment was at 8.0%. In the 14 years since, it was nearly halved by the Conservatives to 4.4%. Every Labour government there has ever been, has left office with higher unemployment than when they took office and I’ll make a prediction now, that this one will do exactly the same.
In 2010, the government budget deficit was at 10.3% of GDP thanks to Labour's reckless borrowing. Labour inherits a much-reduced deficit at 4.4% and it’s forecast to fall to 1.2% in the next few years. In 2010 inflation was at 3.4%. It's now at 2.0%, the Bank of England target. Labour have also inherited the fastest growing economy in the G7 and twelve months of wages growing more than inflation.
Since the Conservatives established the independent Office of Budget Responsibility in 2010, the books have been wide open and what they show is a healthy, growing economy, not the fiction Labour is now peddling that is widely rejected by independent commentators. They now have hundreds of MPs across the country spinning this false narrative and rewriting recent history, in preparation for tax rises that they cynically were not upfront about before people voted. They weren’t straight with you then and they aren’t being straight with you now. Don’t fall for it.
Britain is not ‘broken’ as Labour claim. It is truth and integrity in politics that is broken.
Councillor Duncan Crow, Leader of Crawley Borough Council Conservative Group
31st July 2024
