Thread by @uk_domain_names

Heading into the debates, let's remind ourselves how much damage the Tories have wrought since 2010. A decade of destruction, to put it mildly! #ITVdebate #Leadersdebate

1. Wages still not back to pre-recession levels after accounting for inflation.
ons.gov.uk/employmentandl…

2. The Tories have cut over 20,000 police in England and Wales (even if they hire 20,000 more, it will still leave us about 1,000 short of the figure before they came to power.)
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/upl…

3. Over the same period, knife crime has soared.
researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN04…

4. Total spending per pupil has fallen approx. 8% in real terms between 2009/10 and 2017/18. (The government was later accused of misrepresenting the data in the IFS report, a criticism upheld by fact checkers.)
ifs.org.uk/uploads/public…

5. A record number of people are waiting for hospital treatment, and hospital waiting lists have grown to over 4.5 million.
researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefi…

6. A&E waiting times are the worst they've ever been.
researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-…

7. The 62-day waiting time target for cancer treatment hasn't been met since 2013. I'm sure everyone knows somebody who's been affected by this. (I certainly do.)
researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-…

8. Local authority spending has fallen 30% per person in real terms due to government cuts (and in some sectors by over 50%). It has fallen on everything except children's social care.
bbc.co.uk/news/uk-englan…

9. Planning changes have allowed authorities to eat into the Green Belt. In total, 13,200 hectares of Green Belt land has been lost since 2010. That's nearly 51 square miles!
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/upl…

10. After declining after the financial crash, personal insolvencies have soared again following the Brexit vote.
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/upl…

Keep scrolling down for dozens more examples, with full sources. It's worth pointing out that none of these problems are caused by our membership of the EU, or have anything to do with being part of the EU. They're all a result of Tory policy decisions and Tory mismanagement.

11. Racial and religious hate crime is up sharply in England and Wales. Note the spike immediately after the referendum, which caused a step change in the number of crimes. And it's on the rise again.
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/upl…

12. House building has barely regained pre-financial crash long term trend after a decade of fewer houses being built. These are actual figures, i.e. they don't account for population growth. No wonder house prices have risen so far over recent years!
gov.uk/government/sta…

13. The aftermath of the Brexit vote has precipitated the longest sustained decline in business investment since the financial crisis...
ons.gov.uk/economy/grossd…

14. Council tax has soared, with average increases over 4% for each of the last 3 years.
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/upl…

15. Ever-increasing numbers of people have had their benefits capped. (Average effect: loss of £53/week per household.)
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/upl…

16. Life expectancy improvements have stalled since 2011. (It could be coincidence in that we happened to hit the limits of science at the exact moment the Tories came to office. It could be austerity. It could be many things.)
ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulati…

17. The number of people sleeping rough has risen 165% since 2010.
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/upl…

18. The average weekly income of pensioners has pretty much stopped growing since 2010, following a long period of upward growth.
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/upl…

19. The number of people on zero hours contracts skyrocketed under the Tories. (It is important to note that many new "opportunities" have opened up in recent years, like food deliveries, Uber, ecommerce deliveries etc.)
ons.gov.uk/employmentandl…

20. UK GDP per capita has not improved since 2010, according to IMF data.
imf.org/external/datam…

Plenty more woeful stats to come in this thread...

Quick note: the Tories keep banging on about Labour leaving the economy in a mess.

The 2010 election was 3,484 days ago. Three thousand four hundred and eighty four days. It's beyond belief the Tories are still blaming Labour!

21. The number of households in temporary accommodation has risen to levels not seen since before the financial crisis.
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/upl…

22. After improving for several years, the "tax gap" (the amount of money HMRC believes it *should* be able to recoup in taxes, but hasn't been able to) is rising again.
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/upl…

23. Public sector net debt has risen very substantially since 2010. From just over £1 trillion when the Tories took power in 2010, it's bumping up against £1.8 trillion now.
ons.gov.uk/economy/govern…

24. Since 2010, the UK Government has spent £296.7 billion servicing the national debt (=£4,565/person). In other words, if we didn't have any debt (rather than the £1.8 trillion we're saddled with) we'd have £296.7 billion more to spend on other things!
obr.uk/forecasts-in-d…

25. The number of emergency 3-day food supplies distributed by the Trussell Trust network of food banks has reached an all-time high.
trusselltrust.org/2019/11/13/apr…

26. The Tories have cut the number of firefighters by 21.7% since 2010.
bbc.co.uk/news/50395117

27. Mortgage possession claims have increased for 5 consecutive quarters...
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/upl…

28. The timetable for raising the state pension age for women accelerated twice under the Tories, in 2011 and again in 2014.
researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-…

29. Since 2015, 127 HM Courts & Tribunal Service locations have closed, leaving just 329 sites. A further 12 are scheduled for closure.
nao.org.uk/other/hm-court…

30. The number of patients having to wait more than 28 days for their elective operation after it was cancelled ("breach rate") has risen significantly over recent years, even as the overall number of cancellations remained low.
england.nhs.uk/statistics/wp-…

Time for another little break. Plenty more to come below.

At this point, if you're still thinking of voting Tory, you must be...
A) Rich
and/or
B) A real glutton for punishment

NOTE: Every single stat in this thread is sourced so you can read the full details for yourself.

31. "Official error" underpayments on Employment and Support Allowance payments hit their highest rate ever in 2018/2019. These added up to £470 million that claimants missed out on.
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/upl…

32. The "mandatory reconsideration" time for PIP claimants disputing a DWP decision reached an all-time high of 69 days in July 2019. New claim times have also spiked recently.
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/upl…

33. Even as the Tories hacked and slashed away at the welfare system and social security, corporation tax rates have fallen to a record low of 19%.
tradingeconomics.com/united-kingdom…

34. Funding for youth services and for the Sure Start programme has been butchered since 2010/11. Overall, spending on children's social care has also fallen.
nao.org.uk/wp-content/upl…

35. Fuel duty freezes since 2010 have cost the Treasury over £46 billion in lost tax revenue. The cost of this giveaway to motorists is now running at over £8 billion/year. Bad for the environment too, as it encourages car use over public transport use.
parliament.uk/written-questi…

36. Spending on public services has been cut since 2010. Excluding DHSS spend, it's down 16%. That's per year! (Don't be fooled by the upturn on the RHS of the graph - that's only projected future spending).
ifs.org.uk/publications/1…

37. Adult social care spending has been cut between 2009/10 and 2017/18 for all but the richest areas (even in those areas, it has been cut *per person*). And it has been cut by far the most in the poorest areas.
ifs.org.uk/uploads/BN240.…

38. Council service spending per person has been cut between 2009/10 and 2017/18, but the richest areas only saw a 17% cut whereas the poorest suffered a 32% cut. Factoring in other spending, the difference is even starker.
ifs.org.uk/uploads/BN240.…

39. Funding for bus services has been eviscerated, and over 3,000 bus services have been reduced, altered or withdrawn since 2010/11.
bettertransport.org.uk/sites/default/…

40. More and more prisoners are getting handed very long (>10 year) prison sentences.
prisonreformtrust.org.uk/Portals/0/Docu…

Quick pause to mention my book. it busts two dozen Brexit myths, looks at the reality of no deal and trade on WTO terms, examines the mechanics of a 2nd referendum and considers life beyond Brexit. Out now on Kindle and in paperback. Please check it out...
amazon.co.uk/dp/B07Z1FTRQW/…

41. Assaults and serious assaults in prison are at their highest ever level.
prisonreformtrust.org.uk/Portals/0/Docu…

42. The % of patients starting consultant-led treatment within 18 weeks has dropped and dropped and dropped. It fell below the 92% "operational standard" in early 2016 and kept on falling.
england.nhs.uk/statistics/wp-…

43. The number of people dealt with by the Criminal Justice System in England and Wales has fallen since 2008, and has reached a record low...
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/upl…

44. The "households' saving ratio" (amount of money households have left over to save at the end of each month) has fallen dramatically since 2010, from 12.4% to just 6.8%. This means people are having to spend much more of their income to make ends meet.
ons.gov.uk/economy/grossd…

That should be enough to be getting on with. If you have other examples of the ruinous damage the Tories have wrought during their decade of destruction, please post them below (with links to mainstream sources). If you found this thread interesting, please share it widely.