According to the Labour Party website the Labour Party have achieved the following in their time in power:

Why Labour?

Labour is working to secure a fair future for Britain. We stand resolutely for the hard working majority of the British people. In this global economic downturn our approach is not only helping people now but also planning for recovery.

Labour is taking decisive action at a local, national and global level to help people through these tough times. We are providing real help now by supporting families and investing in jobs, public services and in key sectors of the economy.

And because we are Labour, we are giving real support to all – not giveaways for the few. We are bringing forward investment – not cutting services. And we will stand by those who are worried that they could lose their homes or jobs – not walk on by.

Key achievements

Labour is taking action to give real help to families and businesses now and for the future:

* Extra mortgage protection to help families stay in their homes
* Giving a £145 tax cut for 22 million basic rate taxpayers
* Cutting VAT this year worth an average of £275 off household bills
* Guaranteed work or training for 18-24 year olds unemployed for twelve months
* Increasing child benefit and child tax credit
* An extra £60 payment to pensioners on top of a rise in the state pension
* Increasing the Pension Credit to a minimum of £130 a week
* A Winter Fuel Payment of £400 for over 80s households and £250 to the over 60s
* Allowing businesses facing difficulties to spread their tax payments on a timetable they can afford
* Extra cash to encourage employers to recruit people without jobs
* Stepping up the training and support people need to get back to work
* Helping savers by increasing the threshold of Individual Savings Accounts to over £10,000
* Increasing statutory redundancy pay to £380 a week
* Extending the Stamp Duty holiday for properties under £175,000
* Supporting the automotive industry with a car scrappage scheme

New Labour, your Britain

As well as providing real help now to tackle the problems we face today, Labour is preparing Britain to seize the opportunities of tomorrow. We are investing now so we are best placed to take advantage of the upturn.

* To support families we brought forward an increase in child benefit and child tax credit. We helped pensioners during the winter months with an extra £60 bonus on top of the increase in the Winter Fuel payment. Labour has cut income tax by £145 for 22 million basic rate taxpayers and cut VAT, saving households on average £275 off their household bills.
* Supporting businesses so they come through the downturn stronger is integral for our future economic success. Working with banks, Labour is providing loan guarantees to businesses to help them get the credit they need. And to ease pressure on businesses up and down the country, we are allowing them to defer their tax payments on a timetable that they can afford.
* We are acting now to help people stay in their homes. Labour has introduced a homeowner support scheme which provides extra protection to help families stay in their homes if they suffer a temporary fall in income. In contrast, at a time of recession David Cameron’s priority is an inheritance tax giveaway of £200,000 to the 3,000 richest estates in the country.
* We are guaranteeing a job, training or work placement to all 18-24 year olds who are unemployed for 12 months. We are increasing statutory redundancy pay. Employers are being given up to £2,500 to recruit and train people.
* The UK will need to strive harder than ever to accelerate its transformation into a low-carbon economy, benefiting business and the wider economy. We will not shy away from key questions of the future, such as how we transport ourselves, how we heat our homes and workplaces and how we produce our goods. We will embrace these opportunities positively in order to meet our aim of creating thousands of new jobs in green technology and advanced manufacturing.
* So we need a strategy to support the UK’s economic renewal and future growth – building on existing strengths in low carbon technologies, life sciences and pharmaceuticals, digital industries, professional and financial services and advanced manufacturing. To achieve these objectives, we will need to forge a new industrial activism. Most of all, we will need to improve the skills of our workforce and adapt them to the specialist demands of a modern economy; invest in an effective modern infrastructure; innovate further in science and technology; and industrialise this innovation in commercially successful ways.

Labour Party Economy Policy :http://www.labour.org.uk/economy

I would be interested to hear both positive and negative views on Labour’s Economy policies in the comments below?