The Tories stripped away the social fabric with their austerity measures - Yorkshire Post Letters

It seems only too predictable that each new government will blame the previous administration for its woes and lack of money.

The Prime Minister and Chancellor speak of the black hole of £22bn inherited from the Tories. Whatever one’s political allegiances and however accurate the facts, the electorate would prefer to hear good and inspiring news rather than excuses and explanations.

The various Tory governments kept this blame game going for 14 years and still used it at the last election. Indeed, they even used it against each other’s administrations.

But whatever similarities there may be between the political rhetoric of 2010 and today there are certain fundamental differences. The then Chancellor in 2010, George Osborne, could not hide his ideological relish when introducing austerity.

‘We are all in this together’ he declared and said that austerity would lead to good times ahead. The truth is that the rich got richer and the social fabric was cut to the bone and no good time for all was ever achieved.

Shrinking the state is at the heart of Tory philosophy particularly at the hands of the right wing who have increasingly controlled the thinking of the Tory party.

George Osborne claimed that the Treasury chest was empty when he came to power. Even if it were true, it was because the Blair and Brown governments had invested in the social fabric, in the NHS and schools. So many failing schools in London were transformed through massive investment.

Keir Starmer’s government will not be enjoying the hard decisions they will be having to make but their aim is to strengthen the social fabric, not strip it away.