Labour's jobs miracle has been a disaster for a whole generation

Telegraph
"As Frank Field, Labour's voice of sanity, readily concedes, the Government's New Deal and making-work-pay strategies have failed, costing the taxpayer £75 billion since 1997. Its record on youth unemployment is shameful. There are well over one million "Neets" – those not in education, employment or training – which is a greater number than when Tony Blair's first landslide was celebrated with D.Ream's pop song, Things Can Only Get Better.
For Mr Brown, a more appropriate anthem is Ray Charles's Busted. Because, unlike Mrs Thatcher, who had to battle against institutionalised defeatism, having inherited an economy that had been run into the ground by outdated, inefficient and over-manned nationalised industries, Mr Brown took over a golden legacy. Britain's reformed labour laws had made it one of Europe's most flexible locations for investment, a new spirit of enterprise had been injected into the veins of commerce, and an explosion of activity in London's financial sector brought a tax-revenue bonanza. Much of that has been squandered. Creeping taxes are choking hopes for a quick return to growth. Public spending is out of control. Private pensions have been wrecked. It's a tale of unimaginable incompetence."