So what is Tony Blair’s legacy going to be?

HEALTH

On the eve of the 1997 election, Tony Blair famously told voters they had 24 hours to save the NHS.

His first pledge was to reduce waiting lists by 100,000, and he did that, but not without being accused of ignoring the most urgent patients.

Today, no one is waiting more than six months for non-emergency treatment, compared with up to two years in the early Blair days.

The NHS budget has tripled under Mr Blair, with annual spending increases of more than seven per cent until 2008.

The huge funding increases have not prevented many NHS Trusts plunging into the red - the NHS ended last year with a £500 million deficit, leading to closed wards, delayed operations and staff losses.

Worcestershire Primary Care Trust, which runs services such as doctors and dentists, inherited a £22 million debt when it started up in October 2006 and will start next year with an £11 million deficit.

Worcestershire Royal Hospital, which was built with PFI money in 2001, is being paid for over the course of the next 25 years at £12 million a year.

Despite the high costs of the hospital, it was one of the first PFI-funded hospitals in the country and is considered a first class facility.

In dental care, 35,000 patients across South Worcestershire lost their NHS dentist because a new Government contract came in last year, forcing them to pay or go private.

Wyre Forest MP Dr Richard Taylor, a former consultant physician, who was elected in protest at the dowgrading of Kidderminster Hospital as part of the PFI programmed, said: "Waiting lists, cancer care and cardiac care are all better now, and we must thank Tony Blair for the vast amount of extra money that has gone into the NHS.

"Having said that, it hasn't been used to the best. Lots of it has been wasted on knee-jerk reforms, and as a reaction to a sudden crisis.

"Locally, in Wyre Forest we have only seen a deterioration in services and we know Worcestershire Royal Hospital is stretched. We must give credit to the waiting lists though, they are far better."

EDUCATION

The mantra Tony Blair based his government around back in 1997 was education, education, education' - and in the last decade the sector has had to sustain huge reforms.

In came flagship academy schools backed by private funding, beacon schools to signify centres of excellence, Sure Start centres to help families, and city academies.

Higher education was also radically changed, with top-up fees introduced in 2004, allowing universities to charge students £3,000 a year extra.

The controversial move means universities now raise £1 billion a year from students rather than the Government.

The county still gets a pretty raw deal from the Government - it is currently in 147th place from 149 local authorities when it comes to yearly funding.

If Worcestershire got the national average funding per pupil, it would be an extra £250,000 better off every year.

Tony Pierce, regional officer for the National Union of Teachers, said: "Let's start with the positives - when Blair first came in, having a limit on class sizes of 30 for primary and infant school pupils was very good.

"Funding overall is better, and teachers are grateful for that. Standards are also better, although that is down to teachers rather than this Government.

"Overall though, I would say there are more negatives than positives. There have been lots of changes where teachers feel they have been completely ignored, particularly on academies, which is something we never thought a Labour Government would introduce.

"The curriculum has also been changed a lot over the past 10 years without teachers being consulted enough, so overall the impression Tony Blair will leave is a negative one."

COUNTRYSIDE

Under Mr Blair, fox hunting has been banned in England and Wales, as well as deer hunting and hare-coursing.

The controversial Bill, which was forced through Parliament in 2005 by using the Parliament Act after peers rejected it, was vociferably opposed by the Countryside Alliance.

The ban was initiated by Worcester MP Mike Foster, who started a Private Members Bill to get it on the agenda 10 years ago.

It was killed off at the second reading but became a Labour manifesto commitment before it was finally passed three years ago, leading to violent clashes outside the Commons between police and protestors.

The Blair years also saw a foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in 2001, which led to the slaughter of six million animals and cost the economy £4 billion.

Mike Allfrey, who runs Brookhouse Farm, Storridge, said: "It's been disastrous, mainly because Blair has no concept of the countryside.

"The hunting ban was a bad idea, because it tells people how to behave. The urban way of life is totally different to the rural way of life - it was the social life of the countryside."

PENSIONERS

Pensioners have been hit hard by a doubling in council tax during the Blair years, compared with the state pension which has increased by 34 per cent.

The Government launched a pensioners credit system in 2006 to try to tackle pensioner poverty by giving extra top-up payments to the worst-off.

One of the first measures of the Blair government was to introduce a winter fuel payment in 1998, which gives more than seven million pensioner households money each winter for bills.

Worcester pensioner John Shearon, aged 74, of Marlow Road, Dines Green, said: "Once Blair has gone I hope the pension is increased, because it's a struggle and without my works pension on top, it would be very difficult.

"Despite that, I think he has served the country really well. We've got more employed than 10 years ago and mortgages are lower. It's been a steady ship."

BUSINESS

MrBlair's ability to convince Middle England that the British economy was safe under his government was vital in winning the 1997 election.

Under Mr Blair, pension funds tax freedom has gone, the upper limit on national insurance contributions has gone and an extra £2.3bn is pocketed each week in tax.

The economy has seen continuous growth, and there are now 4.4 million business enterprises in the UK compared with 2.5 million back in 1997.

It hasn't been plain sailing for businesses though - Herefordshire and Worcestershire Chamber of Commerce estimates that the collective regulatory costs firms face was £10 billion in 1997 compared to £55 billion now.

Gary Woodman, policy executive at the chamber of commerce, said it had been a mixed bag under Mr Blair.

He said: "It's been an interesting time - there are things that have been bad, things that have been good, and significant challenges going forward.

"One of the major factors has been the bureaucracy burden which has hampered business, but at the same time we've had macro economic stability for the last 10 years, which has allowed business to grow.

"Tony Blair's Government created something like one law a day, but while doing that there is no doubt smaller companies have generally thrived."

POLICE

There are now record police numbers in the UK and locally - the nationwide figure is currently at 141,000, compared with 137,000 in May 1997. West Mercia police now has 2,457 police officers across the force area, compared to 2,070 back in 1997 - an increase of almost 400 officers.

There were 2,000 incidents of violent crimes recorded in Worcester last year, compared to 2,300 back in 1997.

Crime, and how much of it is taking place in the UK, is one of the most contentious debates about the Government, with figures varying depending on where they come from.

While the Labour Government is adamant levels have fallen, politicians often choose figures to support their arguments and there are very few absolutes.

On the face of it, Mr Blair's record is good, with recorded crimes falling 35 per cent since 1997, but critics argue the trend is for overall crime to drop regardless of the government of the day.

Yet the latest British Crime Survey reported in January that the chances of being a victim of crime has increased one per cent to 24 per cent, and that the downward trend for crimes is slowing down.

The UK now spends more on crime and disorder than any other country in Europe - 2.5 per cent of our GDP.

WORCESTER MP MIKE FOSTER, LONDON

"In the 10 years since Tony Blair became Prime Minister, Worcester is without doubt a better place to live thanks to a strong and stable economy.

"We have a new hospital, promised and delivered, after 40 years of Tory waiting; three new GP surgeries; new schools and classrooms and pupil funding doubled.

"Educational standards have improved, thanks to hundreds of extra teachers and teaching assistants.

"Life chances have been transformed. In the years to come people will see the difference that Sure Start and universal nursery provision have made.

"Crime is down, and we have record numbers of police on the beat. Local community support officers patrol our streets and tough new measures protect people from anti-social behaviour.

"Our world has changed and Tony, more than most, has recognised the challenges this brings. Bringing peace to Northern Ireland; helping the poorest out of poverty while protecting our country from the new risk of global terrorism.

"At the same time, he has acknowledged and acted against the threat global warming poses to future generations.

"So what has Tony Blair ever done for Worcester?

"Frankly a great deal, but he would be the first to say "lots done, a lot more to do!"

MID-WORCESTERSHIRE MR PETER LUFF, CON

"What will Blair be remembered for? It's too early to be sure, but I think the judgement of history will be harsh. For me, five things stand out.

"First, Iraq. Without the support of the UK there would probably have been no American invasion.

"That invasion now looks like a huge mistake - a mistake that will colour memories of everything else he did.

"Second, failure on public services. Only late on in his time as PM did he argue for choice to drive improvement.

"But he remained committed to central targets that distorted both the education and health services and meant that much of the extra billions poured into them was wasted.

"Third, our liberties. Forced to make the difficult choices between security and freedom, he chose security.

"His response to the rise in terrorism was to trample on our liberties. Fourth, our constitution. He recklessly tampered with almost every aspect from the structure of the United Kingdom to the way Parliament itself works.

"He showed contempt for the Commons and nurtured a culture of spin. Fifth, and the one part of his legacy for which he deserves unqualified praise, he played a big part in bringing peace to Northern Ireland - building on the earlier work of Sir John Major. Perhaps history will be kinder, but I doubt it."

WEST WORCESTERSHIRE MP SIR MICHAEL SPICER, CON

"I first came into direct contact with Tony Blair in 1988 when he was shadow energy minister and I was the minister responsible for getting the Electricity Privatisation Bill through Parliament.

"Mr Blair displayed then exactly the strengths and weaknesses for which he was later to become famous.

"He let me know that he wanted a deal. He would allow the Bill through virtually unscathed if I would agree to his publicity timetable involving, as I recall, four public rows.

"As a result, much to the consternation of his own whips and to the surprise of mine, he became famous and I got the Bill out of committee months before the Water Privatisation Bill, which was running in parallel. This was a foretaste of his emphasis on publicity rather than substance and of his willingness to upset his own party. This approach, brilliant in some respects, particularly at a General Election, will, I think, give him a bad press in the history books.

"He will be written up as the man who came in with enormous promise, for instance for the reform of the public services, but who ended up achieving very little, certainly on the home front where it matters most."