Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #GE1997
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The #WindfallTax was a tax on "the excess profits of the privatised utilities" introduced by the 'New @UKLabour' government of Tony Blair in 1997, following a manifesto commitment to impose a "windfall levy" on the privatised utilities.
Was it any good?
Was it any good?
New Labour's #WindfallTax came after 18 years of Tory rule, which had seen #neoliberal privatisation of many state-owned assets, at prices which many considered too low.
It aimed to "put right the bad deal which customers & taxpayers got from the privatisation of the utilities".
It aimed to "put right the bad deal which customers & taxpayers got from the privatisation of the utilities".
The #WindfallTax produced a one-off income to the Govt of Β£5 billion, used to fund the New Deal, a questionable 'welfare-to-work' (workfare) program, & capital investment for schools & 'Learndirect', a training provider owned by the private equity firm Queens Park Equity.
Labour Party may be charged with taking its traditional working class support for granted whilst pandering to urban youth, a minority of whom, admittedly, were at least born into the working class. Labour went into #GE2017 pledged to scrap universal university tuition fees ...
... on its first day in office and with a perceived intent to, at some point, write off outstanding student debt, incurred to pay for tuition fees. Only a minority of 18 to 21 year olds go to university, a disproportionate number of them are drawn from the middle and upper class.
In comparison, Labour had no hard edged pledges on education for the many whose offspring do not expect to go to university. In prioritising scrapping fees, Labour pandered not just to urban youth, but also their families etc. It also planned to leave in place Β£7bn out of Β£9bn ..
