New Labour and Public Expenditure

Abstract

This chapter compares the record of the Blair governments on public expenditure with that of the previous Labour governments of Clement Attlee, Harold Wilson and James Callaghan. A study of the data confirms that public expenditure during the years of the Blair government had increased significantly above the levels reached by the previous Labour governments. This applies not only for the total levels of public expenditure but also for individual programmes, including health, education, social security, defence, law and order, and trade and industry. However, the Wilson and Callaghan governments did spend more than the Blair governments on subsidies to the nationalized industries and on housing capital and housing subsidies.