Yes won, but this was no clean partisan exorcism: voters blamed the Conservatives while repeatedly tracing the damage back through Blair and Brown, and sometimes further. The result was a verdict on stewardship as much as authorship — aggravation and failure to resolve counted almost as much as creating the problem.
The floor’s most-respected Yes case was sweeping: “Not a single conservative policy over 14 years.” A highly rated companion called it “a paradox vote where both yes and no can fit”, while pointing to austerity, the pandemic response, Brexit, immigration and debt as the Conservatives’ responsibility for leaving the country in a worse state.
The No side’s best argument was about inherited machinery rather than Tory origin stories. Its strongest voice said “Thatcher was not responsible for the consequences of deindustrialisation”, while another placed “Most of our ills” at the door of “Blair & Co Socialism” and a weak civil service; others blamed NGOs, free movement, short-termist finance and Labour’s failure to challenge Conservative choices.
The Yes case, though, was not simply that every problem began in Conservative hands: one of its more respected formulations said most structural problems were “created, aggravated or unresolved during 14 years of Tory govt.” The room also contained unusually candid admissions from former Tory voters — “even though I was a Tory supporter I'd have to say that yes most are because they just dropped the ball for so long” — alongside harsher claims about lockdowns, cronyism, privatisation and a deliberate assault on public services.
This vote did not settle who first built the country’s problems; it settled who those voters thought had most visibly failed to deal with them. The Conservatives were judged less as sole authors of the mess than as the government that let it harden.
13 Opinions
Tories, despite various, mostly not kept promises, were continue the direction set by Tony Blair and New Labour. Deficit, debt, mass immigration, weak and two-tier justice, demilitarisation, deindustrialisation, watered down Brexit, panic reaction to C19. Not a single conservative policy over 14 years. They destroyed themselves and country alongside.
This is an either way argument. Most of our ills are firmly at the door of Blair & Co Socialism & a venal useless Civil Service; however the Conservatives captured by the liberal wing ensured Britain could not escape from the doom loop the Socialists created, they seriously misled us. A short termist City & a ruling class obsessed with ‘managing decline’ rather than harnessing the real talent of the British is the problem. Aim low and you will always succeed in failure
Tories locked us down to destroy the economy over a bad cold - and then imported millions of parasites.
No, and before anyone goes back that far, no, Thatcher was not responsible for the consequences of deindustrialisation. It needed to happen, at the time ( now we need to build new industries). She was just a handy hate figure.
YES 14yrs of austerity Translated as slashing public funding & pocketing from the money saved for themselves. Covid 19 They used this as a business opportunity for themselves & their cronies. Look at the PPE scandals now! They also spent their last 2yrs in power passing laws & acts setting traps for an incoming government, knowing those traps would lead to the British public suffering! They spent 14yrs always putting themselves & party before what was best for Britain
Every one of the prohlems we have was made much worse by those governments, even if not all of them started under them. To call it off they caused Brexit which has set us back 50 years at least and caused a division in society which might never heal.
I think a lot of blame should be taken by conservatives but also the previous Labour Party who left the note about no cash left! Very flippant.
I would have more sympathy with this argument if Labour really objected to anything the conservatives did. Post Osbourne and post austerity we have been tax and spend for a decade were getting crushed by the interest on the debt of that unmanaged spending and lack of growth. The Blair Brown era started this extreme spending on the assumption that government spending could create growth alone. While Brexit is a distraction which no party came out looking good.
Maybe not 'all' but most visible structural problems today were either created, aggravated or unresolved during 14 years of Tory govt. Brexit*, public-service capacity, UK land border, investment, HS2, productivity, immigration policy. Cronyism writ large especially during Covid. More culture warring and division. Lack of respect in public office leading to lack of respect for public officials and the democratic process. * demonstrably harmful.
Most of our problems can be traced back to the Blair/Brown era and pushing the growth of NGOs who now run the country without oversight and parliamentary control