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The New Labour years: an evaluation
Well, after the discussion in DullTrev's diary I may as well do a brief round-up of my opinions.

I think the timing's all wrong though. As I've said before, the long global boom has increased inequality by pumping up the stock and house prices of the rich. This has also masked any economic pain from the tax increases. So, we really won't be able to evaluate things until the recessionary phase of the business cycle has completed.

Rating scale:
A: Excellent
B: Good
C: Average
D: Could Do Better
E: Poor

Perception
There's a surprising amount of talk in the DullTrev comments about feelings and perceptions. To a large degree, there does seem to be a perception that Britain is engulfed in a violent crime wave, crushed under an unprecedented tax burden, hopelessly entangled in EU red tape, and so on.

However, these perceptions are generally either exaggerated or false. Also to a degree they are permanent: people always seem to the they're in an awful mess right now.

One factor that I think is greatly underestimated is the impact of digital television. New Labour came to power in 1997: a year before the launch of Sky's Astra digital satellite , five years before the birth of Freeview. The media event of the year was the launch of Channel 5.

At the start of the Blair administration, most Britons had only four TV channels. Many of them would watch a stodgy half-hour (or even longer!) news show, plopped unavoidably down in the middle of prime-time. Government ministers would often be given minutes to make their case to large audiences.

By the Brown era, TV audiences had fragmented amongst many digital channels. News bulletins were shortened, shifted away from prime time, and could be avoided by changing to one of many alternative channels. Ratings pressure led to more opinionated coverage. You could get your opinions from Jeremy Kyle and Sky News rather than Angela Rippon and the BBC.

The Internet, too, has had some effect in breaking media influence out of a handful of relatively staid and respectful outlets.

Given this context, I think that New Labour have handled the media and hence public perception remarkably effectively, though latterly without the advantage of Blair's exceptional presentation skills. However, the attrition of years in government have inevitably told.
Rating: B

Foreign policy
The biggest foreign policy mistake was the invasion of Iraq, which whether by inherent flaws or poor execution had disastrous short term results.

In other respects, New Labour foreign policy was generally positive. Britain's limited global influence was used to its utmost to encourage debt relief for Africa, and increased foreign aid. After the divisions of John Major's government on Europe, Labour was able to maintain better relations with Europe, taking advantage of expansion to build good relations with the newer members. Balancing those.
Rating: C

Domestic policy
Two major achievements mark domestic policy. The introduction of a minimum wage, currently £5.52 (US$ 11.06) for adults over 22, greatly helped low-wage workers. While theoretically minimum wages can damage employment, in practice the relative inelasticity of unskilled labour renders such effects immeasurably small. The other was the working families tax credit, which helped to reduce the benefit trap which discouraged low earners from getting to work.

There are also a number of other achievements. More teachers led to smaller class sizes. The number of police was increased. Civil partnerships were introduced. Free museum entry greatly increased the number of visits.

Overall, in terms of improving the domestic situation, a successful government.
Rating: A

Civil liberties
The great shame of New Labour is the relentless attack on civil liberties in an attempt to outflank the Conservative party and placate the tabloids. Intrusive databases, reductions of the right to silence, detention without trial, the plans for ID cards, overuse of ASBOs are just some examples. Aggravating the assault is the fact that many of these have no practical value except that the opposition should oppose them, allow New Labour to accuse them of being "soft".

In addition, bans on fox-hunting and smoking in public, while shallower issue, are based on weak justifications and constitute a petty authoritarianism.

The single bright spot is the Human Rights Act 1998, signing up to the European Convention on Human Rights, which mitigated some of the damage. Not enough.
Rating: E

NHS
The Labour party's greatest triumph and biggest problem. Created in 1948, its centralized planning effectively administered bed rest, antibiotics and the simpler medicine of the era. By 1997 it was underfunded, its nurses underpaid, and choked by waiting lists.

New Labour poured massive sums of money into the NHS. The obvious problem was that this money could be wasted. In an attempt to avoid this, New Labour tried several methods Firstly a complicated system of targets and checklists. Secondly, pseudo-markets were created where primary care trusts bought in treatment. Thirdly increased use was made of bought-in private sector, services.

The results were mixed. The number of doctors and nurses was increased, and new hospitals were built. Waiting lists shrunk. However, the cost-control proved ineffective. Mishandled pay negotiations paid doctors much more money for what they were doing for free. The targets and checklists proved woefully easy to fiddle. Monopsony and principle-agent problems defeated the private/market reforms.

However, given the commitment to a "free at the point of entry" centralized NHS, I can't see it being done a whole lot better. Moving to a multi-payer French-style refund system would have been seen as privatization. People within the NHS want the extra money without the targets and checklists, but without controls institutions tend to suck up money regardless of the ethics of the individuals within them.
Rating: B

Economy
This is the most difficult to judge after only half an economic cycle. But the creation of an independent Bank of England seems to have been a good move whatever happened. There has been a modest increase in the tax burden, but it's still well below most of mainland Europe. The UK's overall economic performance has been better than the Eurozone, and competitive with the United States.

The minimum wage and the deficit could potentially cause problems if the recessionary part of the cycle is longer and deeper than expected. Or they could prove a trivial price for better welfare and services if the recession is short and shallow.
Rating: B

Overview
Overall then, I would rate this a moderately successful government. Generally good on services if weak on liberties.

How we look back on it will depend on what's to come, but I suspect there will be a degree of nostalgia. It's likely that either the economy or public services will worsen in the future, and a period when both of these were pretty good will look good by comparison.

Overall rating: B