Labour made a number of blood-curdling claims about the situation they inherited from the Tories.
Here the Mail reveals the reality and outline the new government’s measures – some of which never appeared in their manifesto.
ECONOMY:
Claim: Three days after taking charge at the Treasury, Chancellor Rachel Reeves warned she had inherited ‘the worst set of circumstances since the Second World War’.
She added: ‘What I have seen in the past 72 hours has only confirmed that our economy has been held back by decisions deferred and decisions ducked, political self-interest put ahead of the national interest.’
Reality: During the election campaign Ms Reeves acknowledged that the work of the Office for Budget Responsibility meant the state of the public finances was fully known.
Britain’s economy is still in recovery from the twin shocks of the pandemic and the energy crisis. But inflation is now back to its 2 per cent target and the IMF upgraded its growth forecasts for the UK last week.
Result: Government sources have suggested the controversial plan to put VAT on private school fees could be brought forward to January, risking mid-year disruption for thousands of pupils.
Ms Reeves will publish a Treasury ‘review’ of the public finances next week, which Jeremy Hunt has already warned is ‘just a pretext for long-planned tax rises’ at a Budget expected in October.
Labour led by Sir Keir Starmer (pictured yesterday) have introduced a large number of policies since taking over from the Conservatives
The exterior of the Bank of England in London
IMMIGRATION
Claim: On Monday, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper told MPs: ‘I have reviewed the policies, programmes and legislation that we have inherited from our predecessors, and I have been shocked by what I have found.’
Reality: The Home Office has been dysfunctional for decades and has struggled to cope with the small boats crisis, leading to the build up of a huge backlog of cases.
But the Tories had begun a successful programme to reduce costs, moving 20,000 asylum seekers out of hotels in the six months to May and closing 150 asylum hotels, and were about to start removing people to Rwanda to deter Channel crossings.
Result: Ms Cooper quietly announced plans to change the law so more than 100,000 illegal migrants can have their asylum claims processed in what the Tories described as ‘an effective amnesty’ – a policy conspicuously absent from Labour’s manifesto.
She also dismantled the Rwanda scheme, and yesterday ministers announced they would stop housing migrants on the Bibby Stockholm barge, introduced to cut the amount spent on hotels.
Migrants in a dinghy sailing in the Channel toward the south coast of England on September 1, 2020
A group of individuals believed to be migrants brought in to Dungeness, Kent by the RNLI in January 2022
PRISONS
Claim: On July 12, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the previous government had ‘disguised reality’ about the true state of the prison system, and warned that failing to release thousands of criminals early could lead to the ‘collapse’ of the criminal justice system and a ‘total breakdown of law and order’.
Reality: The situation in the prison system is undeniably serious and the previous Tory government had already started an early release scheme.
But prison occupation rates have reached similar levels at several times in the past, including in the late 1990s and early 2010s.
Result: Ms Mahmood used her apocalyptic claims as cover for an early release scheme that went far beyond anything suggested by Labour during the election campaign.
Thousands of prisoners will be released after serving just 40 per cent of their sentences as part of a ‘temporary’ scheme lasting at least 18 months.
Thousands of prisoners will be released after serving just 40 per cent of their sentences under Labour plans (Pictured: The former HMP Reading)
HMP Forest Bank in Agecroft, Salford pictured on October 8, 2022
EMPLOYMENT
Claim: Yesterday, Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall said the number of people on long-term sickness benefits had risen to a ‘near record’ of 2.8million, adding: ‘We are the only G7 country whose employment rate still hasn’t returned to pre-pandemic levels. That is a dire inheritance from the Conservatives.’
Reality: The last government put in a series of reforms to tackle long-term unemployment – including stopping benefits for those who refuse to take a job after a year – which Labour has yet to sign up to.
The UK’s employment rate reached its highest ever level under the Conservatives in 2018 and remains above the OECD average.
Unemployment is 4.4 per cent today, compared with 7.9 per cent when Gordon Brown left office in 2010.
Result: Labour has pushed ahead with a controversial ‘workers’ rights’ package, which critics warn will destroy jobs.
An innocuous manifesto pledge to ‘strengthen the collective voice of workers’ has been replaced in the King’s Speech by measures to repeal all anti-strike laws brought in since 2010. And ministers look set to bow to union demands for an inflation-busting 5.5 per cent pay rise for millions of public sector workers.
Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall said the number of people on long-term sickness benefits is around 2.8million (Pictured: A job centre)
DEFENCE
Claim: Defence Secretary John Healey claimed on Monday that the problems besetting Britain’s armed forces are ‘much worse than we thought’. And last week Armed Forces Minister Luke Pollard suggested the public finances were so tight that the Government could not increase defence spending without economic growth.
Reality: The issues referred to by Mr Healey – ‘hollowed-out’ armed forces, equipment shortages, procurement waste and low morale – are well documented. In 2022, Labour claimed the Ministry of Defence had wasted £13billion of taxpayers’ money since the Conservatives came to power in 2010. But some of these flawed procurement projects dated back to Labour’s time in office from 1997 to 2010.
British special forces soldiers with weapon take part in military maneuver (stock image)
Result: Labour has repeatedly failed to match the Conservatives’ pledge to spend 2.5 per cent of GDP on defence by 2030. Mr Healey and Mr Pollard’s claims have been seen as an attempt to lay the ground for cuts to Britain’s military capability. This week Sir Keir Starmer refused to give any guarantees on the future of the £12billion Tempest fighter jet programme.
