This is a website about what happens when Britain elects a Labour government.
It provides evidence that every time a Labour government has been elected in Britain, it has brought about changes that make life better for people. This evidence takes the form of one hundred ways that life for most people in Britain has been changed for the better when Labour governments have been elected.
What prompted this website is concern about the increasing disillusionment with government and politicians of all parties. There is a growing belief in the UK that politicians of all parties are untrustworthy and are more inclined to act in the interests of themselves or their own parties than the interests of their constituents or the country as a whole. This declining trust in government and politicians can lead to declining trust in the political process and even in democracy which underpins the political process.
Shortly before the general election of 2024 evidence emerged that trust in politicians of all political parties has never been lower[1]. There seems to be a hardening attitude that politicians of all parties are dishonest, self-interested or even corrupt. This fuels the belief that “it doesn’t matter who gets elected, nothing really changes”. And this harms the Labour Party more than it harms the Conservative Party. The reason for this is that Conservative Party tends to favour market-based solutions to social problems whereas the Labour Party tends to favour solutions to social problems that involve government and political processes.
Market-based solutions to social problems seek to harness impersonal market forces. Consequently the Conservative Party is more inclined towards privatisation of public services, deregulation of business practices and a smaller state. Currently (2024), business firms are seen as far more ethical than government[2]. Attempting to solve social problems through impersonal market forces reduces the role of government … and politicians.
By contrast, the Labour Party is more inclined to solve social problems by government intervention and political processes, including legislation, direct provision of public services, creation of social infrastructure and regulation of the behaviour of business firms. And that usually involves a larger role for government … and politicians.
In other words, if politicians are corrupt, untrustworthy or self-interested then the market-based solutions favoured by the Conservative Party minimise the damage that politicians can do, whereas the government-based solutions favoured by the Labour Party amplify the role of those politicians.
One way of countering that narrative is by providing evidence that Labour politicians in power have contributed positively to the social wellbeing of the country. And one way of doing that is by providing evidence of a wide range of achievements of the Labour politicians in government in enhancing the wellbeing of people. This website provides that evidence.
The evidence of one hundred achievements is surely enough to refute the belief that “it really doesn’t matter who gets elected, nothing really changes”. And if one hundred achievements are not sufficient, the appendix in the website contains a further hundred achievements. And if that isn’t sufficient evidence then that belief is probably not based on reason or evidence.
The first Labour government took office one hundred years ago, in 1924. Before 2024 there have been six Labour governments. This website contains a range of achievements by each of those Labour governments. The number included for each of those governments is roughly proportional to the length of time that each one was in office. It contains references so that the sceptical reader can check out the details of each of the achievements. The website also contains an appendix with a brief listing of a further hundred achievements showing that the hundred achievements contained in the website are just examples of a much larger number of achievements that could have been included.
Hopefully, this website will be encouraging to Labour Party activists and supporters as a reminder of the many good things that the Labour Party has done when in office. It will make it easier to answer the question, ‘What has the Labour Party ever done for us?” Hopefully also, it will encourage the Labour government elected in 2024 to be ambitious in its aspirations to change Britain for the better and support confidence in what is possible.
[1] Curtice, J., Montagu, I. and Sivathasan , C. (12 June 2024) Damaged Politics? The impact of the 2019-2024 Parliament on political trust and confidence, British Social Attitudes: The 34th Report. London: National Centre for Social Research
[2] 2024 Edelman Trust Barometer Global Report (2024) Page 7: Institutions Out of Balance: Government Seen as Far Less Competent and Ethical than Business. https://www.edelman.com/sites/g/files/aatuss191/files/2024-02/2024%20Edelman%20Trust%20Barometer%20Global%20Report_FINAL.pdf