It is usually politicians of the left who are accused of letting welfare spending get "out of control", but now seems a good time to look at just when it was that welfare spending began to take off as a percentage of GDP.
It’s usually politicians of the left who are accused of letting welfare spending get “out of control”; but now seems a good time to look at just when it was that welfare spending began to take off as a percentage of GDP.
The first graph shows total welfare spending (including spending on benefits for the unemployed, the disabled, those with children, housing benefit, social protection) whereas the second graph shows welfare spending as a percentage of GDP. In essence, the welfare bill has never recovered from Margaret Thatcher’s mass lay-offs of the 1980s – although as a percentage of GDP it did come down significantly under the last Labour government before climbing again during the banking crash.
31 Responses to “If welfare spending is out of control the governments of Margaret Thatcher are to blame”
Richard T
“In essence, the welfare bill has never recovered from Margaret Thatcher’s mass lay-offs of the 1980s – although as a percentage of GDP it did come down significantly under the last Labour government before climbing again during the banking crash.”
Er, that’s not what the chart shows. Maybe you’ve got your dates confused? Or you’re reading it upside down?
Robgilbert
Rejoice, rejoice!!!!
Robgilbert
Be quiet, you right wing twat.
Nobody important
A useful initial piece of evidence that begs further questions regarding the political consensus which has formed in the post Thatcher era.
The argument proposed by Thatcher and perpetuated by Osborne and Cameron that the state is the problem and private industry is the solution is of course pure propaganda unsupported by any evidence whatsoever.
The state is in such debt and is of such a large size because it is forever responding to problems created by capitalism. The Conservatives may be right when they say the welfare bill is too large, but they are not courageous enough to ask the question “why?”
The welfare bill is so high because capitalism has failed to provide full employment, and so people are forced to claim income support. It is so high because capitalist employers pay slave wages and so the state is forced to pay tax credits to people in work. It is so high because private landlords overcharge for rent, therefore increasing the housing benefit bill year on year.
In short, government borrowing is so high because the state is forever subsidising failing private companies and individuals. Banks, bus companies, train companies, energy companies all receive state subsidies.
The problem is not the state, the problem is a begging bowl capitalist model which forever relies on state handouts.
And then these pathetic failed capitalists have the cheek to blame the problem on the very state which bails them out all the time.
You have to admire their chutzpah.
The left wing has become bewitched by this right wing propaganda.
It is time to break that spell.
Dewi Richard Evans
Irrelevent