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For the decline of industry under Labour, see graphs here: https://fullfact.org/economy/did-labour-decimate-manufacturing/ https://fullfact.org/economy/did-labo
by idlewords 4y ago
For the decline of industry under Labour, see graphs here: https://fullfact.org/economy/did-labour-decimate-manufacturing/ https://fullfact.org/economy/did-labour-decimate-manufacturi... Manufacturing was 18% of UK output at the start of Blair's term in office, and 10% when he left in 2010. You can also search for story after story about factory closures following the 1998 Asian financial crisis, which decimated the north of England.
When evaluating Blair's impact it's also important to look at regional shifts, with money and jobs becoming more and more concentrated around London at the expense of the periphery. You can argue about the causes of these shifts, but their existence is not in question.
- tptacek 4y agoI can't add anything to this that your link doesn't get into. I think my only position in this thread is that Rayiner's earlier argument, claiming that Blair "gutted the country" by reducing industrial capacity, is a little too pat. I think? the article you have here would agree with that! (Particularly interesting, from a nerdy perspective, is the way the increase in service sector output messes with the Blair-era stats.) I defer entirely to this article; even if it's not perfect, it's more perfect than anything I can say.