Is Britain really better after 14 years of Tory rule? Rishi Sunak's claim debunked

Rishi Sunak triggered fury when he claimed that Britain is a "better place to live than in 2010" as he desperately tried to defend his party's record in Government.

The Prime Minister told the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg that things were better after 14 years of Tory rule. He admitted "the last few years have been difficult" but continued to blame the pandemic and the war in Ukraine for the problems facing ordinary Brits.

Labour's Jonathan Ashworth said it was "excruciating to watch Rishi Sunak just gloss over the concerns of ordinary working people". "He just doesn’t understand what the Conservatives have inflicted on voters over the past 14 years," he added.

TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak said: “Has there even been a more out of touch prime minister? Life in Britain may have got better for Rishi Sunak and his cabinet of millionaires - but for the vast majority of us things have got much, much worse.

“Nothing in this country works anymore - whether it’s sky-high NHS waiting lists, crumbling schools, record numbers of kids in poverty or sewage being pumped into our rivers and seas. The PM can try and rewrite history all he likes. But the Tories dire record in office speaks for itself."

We've taken a look at the record of the last 14 years - and whether Mr Sunak's claims that things are better really add up.

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NHS

Waiting lists for NHS treatment have ballooned over the past 14 years. In 2010, 2.5 million people were waiting for hospital treatment. This rose to 4.6 million in September 2019, before the pandemic began.

Post-Covid, waiting lists continued to spiral, hitting a record 7.8 million in September 2023. This was despite Rishi Sunak's pledge to bring down waiting lists in January 2023.

NHS junior doctors are on strike this week in protest at pay and conditions

Spending on NHS dentistry has fallen by more than a third since 2010, resulting in a real terms cut of £1billion, according to the British Dental Association. Figures last year suggested as many as 4.4 million children had not seen an NHS dentist in the previous 12 months.

Education

Between 2010 and 2019, total school spending in England rose by 1% in real terms. But pupil numbers grew by 11% over this period, meaning spending per pupil fell by 9%.

Disadvantaged kids have been hardest hit by cuts. The respected Institute for Fiscal Studies said in December that public spending on education in the UK has fallen in real terms by 8% - around £10billion - since 2010.

Between 2010 and 2021 the most deprived secondary schools saw spending per pupil fall by 12%. The least deprived schools saw only a 5% funding cut in real terms.

More than 200 schools were found to have dodgy concrete last year, forcing kids to learn in marquees, portacabins or off-site.

Average teacher pay across the UK in 2024 is expected to be over 6% lower in real terms than in 2010.

Living standards

Workers have suffered the longest squeeze on wages since the 19th Century. If pay had grown at the same rate as before the financial crisis in 2008, the average worker would be over £14,000 a year better off, according to the TUC.

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This comes against a backdrop of sky-high inflation. Price rises soared above 10% in the wake of Liz Truss's disastrous mini-Budget in 2022, and only dropped to the Bank of England's 2% target in May.

, pushing families to the brink. Experts said in March that the Tories presided over an alarming drop in living standards since 2019.

Food banks

The number of people forced to rely on foodbanks has rocketed since 2010. The Trussell Trust, which runs the largest network of foodbanks in the UK, had around 35 centres in 2010/11, 650 in 2013/14 and nearly 1300 in 2019/20.

A record 3.1million parcels were distributed by Trussell Trust foodbanks up to the end of March, including 1.1million packages for children.

A record 3.1million parcels were distributed by Trussell Trust foodbanks up to the end of March

Child poverty in working households has increased by over 1,300 a week, on average, since 2010, according to the TUC. Analysis found the number of kids living in poverty with at least one parent in work increased by 900,000 (44%) between 2010 and 2023.

The TUC said in 2023 there were 3 million kids in working households living below the breadline.

Crime

Home Office data shows that a larger proportion of crime is going unpunished. In the year ending March 2023 just 5.7% of offences reported to police ended up in a charge or summons.

This fell from 15.5% in 2014-15. The picture is even worse when compared against when the Tories came to power. A Home Office statistical update found that the sanction detection rate was 28% in 2010/11. And the latest figures reveal that almost 40% of cases closed without a suspect being identified.

Just 2.1% of rape and sexual assault cases resulted in a charge or summons.

Asylum backlog

Rishi Sunak has been accused of "failing to deliver" as he attempts to put migration at the heart of his general election campaign. Figures released by the Home Office in May reveal 86,460 asylum cases were waiting an initial decision at the end of March.

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This compares to 18,954 in June 2010, soon after the Tories came to power, according to the UK Statistics Authority. The latest figures show 118,329 people are caught up in the asylum backlog.

Police

The Government points out that following a recent surge in police numbers, the number of officers is at an all-time high.

They're not wrong, although this doesn't tell the whole story. Numbers dropped dramatically during the austerity years before being boosted, but haven't kept up with population growth.

As Full Fact points out, in 2010 there was approximately one officer for every 100,000 people in 2010. By March last year, this had dipped to 404. And nearly four in 10 have less than five years' experience, it is estimated.

Justice

At the end of 2018 there were 32,936 outstanding crown court cases, Ministry of Justice figures show. This has rocketed, with the figure hitting a mammoth 67,573 by the end of last year.

And the Government has had to start releasing prisoners early due to lack of capacity. Earlier this year Justice Secretary Alex Chalk was forced to announce emergency measures to free inmates up to 60 days early to free up space.

And in October last year he said that fewer criminals would be given short prison sentences. It means those who would otherwise have been jailed for less than a year would be more likely to have sentences suspended.