The smart folks over at the UK think-tank Reform have been taking a look at how Tony Blair has been spending taxpayer pounds:

“As a proportion of GDP, public spending has risen by 4.5 percentage points, faster than any other developed country…Overall public sector employment has risen more than twice as fast as private sector employment since 1998. New evidence from the ONS [Office of National Statistics] has revealed that the growth has been fastest among administrators rather than frontline staff: NHS managers have increased over twice as fast as NHS doctors and nurses, schools’ administrative staff have increased over five times as fast as teachers, police service civilian staff have increased three times as fast as the number of police officers, prison service management, administrative and cleaning staff have increased ten times as fast as the number of prison officers…Falling productivity in the public sector means that services need more resources just to stand still, let alone to improve. It puts further upward pressure on taxes at a time when the tax burden is already rising, by 2008-09, to a 25 year-high. Another recent decision – the Government’s agreement not to increase the retirement age of existing public service workers to 65 – is equivalent to increasing the basic rate of income tax by 1p in the pound for today’s taxpayers.”

Just something else for those in this country who spend so much time praising Blair’s economic management to consider. The fact of the matter is that the Labour Party inherited a terrific economic legacy from the Thatcher-Major years. The only surprise has been how long it has taken for them to squander it – but squander it, it has.