This is a hotly debated point, with many people saying very little and classing the governments performance as disappointing. So is this the case? Well I personally believe (and I do realise I say this as a party member) that this government has been a success marred by the Iraq war.
The achievements and reforms the TB Labour government have committed to and enacted have been massive and on the whole successful. The economy has been steady through world recessions, interest rates, growth and inflation have remained steady. Unemployment, while currently rising, is still low and benefit fraud down. The NHS has been through many painful reforms, and is still going through them, but has improved, waiting times have gone down and the service in general has improved, there are also more nurses employed by the NHS (i.e. less agency and overseas staff are now needed). Education has seen improvements with more being invested in schools, more teachers and class sizes down. The city academies have improved many schools as well, although they are debatable in others. The foreign policy, excluding Iraq, has been strong, steady and well thought out. Northern Ireland has been changed beyond belief with the troubles there mostly in the past. Terrorism and security policy have also come on a lot, more because of the increasing threats that previous governments did not face though.
There are many areas in need improvement and change though. These include NHS finances, education pass rates, welfare reform, Iraq, energy and environmental policy. Most of these are being worked on now though and some were included in the queens speech.
The Iraq issue has badly tainted an otherwise good government. Labour has been a successful and more effective government than previous governments, and I think they will be seen as a successful government in the future. However as long as the Iraq war goes on it will always mark against them, however this will probably change when Tony Blair leaves.
So what for the future? Labour look like bringing in Gordon Brown which will offer a government somewhere between the Blairites and the left of the party. His policy ideas which he has mentioned sound good and should do earn the party another election victory.
