Fourteen years, five prime ministers, four election cycles, two UK-wide referendums and a global pandemic: a lot has happened since the Conservative party entered coalition in 2010.
But there are other, bigger figures on voters’ minds: 7.6 million people on waiting lists for hospital treatment in England (three times the 2010 figure); 3% of Britons having to use a food bank , all while the cost of a weekly shop, household bills and mortgage repayments is rising.
Numbers matter and data tells a story. The following charts show how 14 years of Conservative rule has changed the country in five key policy areas. You can also then click through to explore the wider Tory legacy for each topic, in full, in charts.
Owning a home has become harder
Owning your home used to be a rite of passage: now, for many (especially) younger people in the UK it appears to be a pipe dream.
There are many different datasets that help tell the tale of home ownership but one best depicts the skewed nature of today’s housing market:
This official data shows that the middle classes are increasingly squeezed, with only the cheapest 10% of houses now affordable (no more than five times a household’s income) to middle-income England.
Explore the wider Tory legacy on housing in charts here
Public satisfaction in the NHS has plummeted
If there is a chart that best encompasses the political challenge that a struggling NHS poses for the outgoing and incoming government, it is satisfaction with the NHS :
And while more than half of Britons still express pride in the NHS – higher than the number who express pride in the UK’s history (32%), culture (26%) or system of democracy (25%) – people are pessimistic that the system will continue in its current form, with a belief among seven in 10 people that the NHS’s principle of “free at the point of delivery” will be eroded over the next 10 years.
Explore the wider Tory legacy on the NHS in charts here
Immigration levels are much higher post-Brexit
Theresa May and David Cameron were bold in their promises to bring net migration down to “tens of thousands”, but 14 years later the numbers are instead in the “several hundreds of thousands”.
The last Office for National Statistics estimates show that long-term net migration – the number of people immigrating minus those emigrating – was at 685,000 in 2023. That is among the highest levels since 2010 and way above pre-Brexit numbers.
While still aiming to decrease migration levels, Boris Johnson pivoted to promise that “overall numbers will come down”. He also started to focus on irregular immigration, but it was Rishi Sunak who made “stop the boats” – with the deportation flights to Rwanda as a core part of the plan – his flagship immigration policy.
Explore the wider Tory legacy on immigration in charts here
A fall in crime, but long waits for justice
Headline crime rates have continued on a downwards path during the past 14 years.
However, the story is not the same when it comes to the justice system, an area over which the governing party has direct control. Cuts to legal aid over the past decade have threatened case timeliness, while temporary closures during Covid-19 mean that crown courts now have a record number of outstanding cases.
This has a knock-on effect, in that long waiting times mean more victims withdraw from the legal process – as seen with the collapse in the rape charge rate over the past 14 years (though in recent years this has started to recover).
Explore the wider Tory legacy on crime and justice in charts here
Food bank reliance has soared
Voters are still keenly aware of the pinch they felt amid the cost of living crisis as heating their homes, affording previously run-of-the-mill family meals, socialising and sending their children back to school also became shockingly expensive.
Interest rates, while low by historical records, are at a 15-year high. Married with stratospheric house prices, this means, in the words of the Guardian’s Phillip Inman, “we have the worst of all worlds”.
One of the most striking charts of the whole series is Britons’ increased reliance on food banks:
More than 3m food parcels were distributed by food banks in the Trussell Trust network in the UK in the year to March.
Explore the wider Tory legacy on the economy in charts here
Graphics by Lucy Swan, Tural Ahmedzade, Paul Scruton and Harvey Symons
William Turner is a seasoned U.K. correspondent with a deep understanding of domestic affairs. With a passion for British politics and culture, he provides insightful analysis and comprehensive coverage of events within the United Kingdom.
