Higher History Conference Paper One Labour Welfare Reforms

1
Welfare Questions 1992-2003

• Welfare questions
• Liberal Reforms 1906-14
• National Governments of 1930s
• Labour Reforms 1945-51

2
Will there always be a welfare question? Lets
examine the evidence The Britain 1850-1979
syllabus is divided into four sections. 1.
Democracy and the British People 2. Political and
popular attempts to influence the development of
democracy 3. Government and people
socio-economic problems in the period and the
changing role of central government in addressing
them 4. The changing identity of Scotland in the
UK Each one of the four sections is
assessed. Every year since 1992, there has been
at least one question on section 3 i.e. a
welfare-type question.
3

• When? What topic?
• Liberals Nat. Govts.
• Liberals
• Labour
• Liberals Nat. Govts. Labour
• Liberals Nat. Govts.
• Labour
• Liberals Nat. Govts.
• Labour
• Liberals Labour
• Nat. Govts. Labour
• Liberals Labour
• Liberals Nat. Govts.

4
So now to the big question What welfare
topic(s) will come up in 2004? Lets examine the
evidence. You can draw your own conclusions. In
the twelve years 1992-2003 Liberals appeared 8
times Nat. Govts. appeared 6 times Labour
appeared 7 times Evidence from the long term
therefore suggests that the Liberals are the
least likely to come up in 2004 and the Nat.
Govts. are the most likely to come up. But do the
exam setters based their decisions on long term
or short term trends?
5
What about the shorter term evidence? In the last
four years Labour has appeared 3
times Liberals have appeared 3 times National
Governments have appeared twice The National
Governments came up last year will they appear
two years in a row?
6
Will Labour come up in 2004? Labour did not
come up last year whereas the Liberals and the
National Governments both appeared. There have
never been two years when the Labour reforms did
not come up. Therefore, Labour is likely to come
up in 2004. If there are two questions, they are
most likely to be the Labour and the National
Government since the Liberals have appeared in
the last two years. Warningwe might be wrong!
7
Questions on the Labour Reforms
1994-2003 1994 How true is it to say that the
Labour government of 1945-1951 set up the Welfare
State? 1995 Did the Liberal government of
1906-1914 or the Labour government of 1945-1951
do more to promote social welfare in
Britain? 1997 How successful were the welfare
reforms of the Labour Government of 1945-1951 in
improving social conditions in Britain? 1999 "The
social reforms of the Labour government of
1945-1951 were successful in establishing a
welfare state." Do you agree?
8
2000 How successfully did the Labour Government
promote social welfare in Britain between 1945
and 1951? 2001 How effective were the social
reforms of the Labour Government of 1945-1951 in
dealing with the problems facing Britain at the
time? 2002 "The creator of the Welfare State."
How well deserved is this description of the
Labour government of 1945-1951?
9

• What type of question is likely to come up?
• There are three types of Labour question
• How effective were the Labour welfare reforms?
• Did Labour create the welfare state?
• Were the Liberals or Labour more effective in
  promoting welfare?
• The following table shows when the three types of
  question appeared

10
(No Transcript)
11

• The Liberals versus Labour question has only
  appeared once and not since 1995. It is a very
  difficult question and is unlikely to come up
  again but theoretically, it could!
• The welfare question came up last in 2002.
• Perhaps the most likely question therefore is the
  one on how effective were the Labour reforms in
  dealing with the social /welfare problems between
  1945-51.
• That is the question that we are going to study
  in depth in preparation for the 2004 exam.

12
The Labour Welfare Reforms Essay

• Content
• Structure
• Debate
• Historiography

13
How effective were the social reforms of the
Labour Government of 1945-1951 in dealing with
the problems facing Britain at the time?
What is the question asking you to do? Outline
the problems facing the British people after
WW2 Give details of the social reforms carried
out by Labour Evaluate the effectiveness of the
Governments reforms - How effective was each
reform in dealing with the related problem? -
Evaluate each reform in turn after describing the
actions taken. Dont describe all the reforms,
then evaluate them all at the end. N.B. The
content (social reforms) includes the
following areas
14

• 1. Social Security
• The Family Allowances Act (1945). Enacted by the
  Churchill caretaker government, therefore
  outwith the remit of this essay)
• The National Insurance Industrial Injuries Act
  (1946)
• The National Insurance Act (1946)
• The National Assistance Act (1948)
• 2. Health
• The National Health Service Act (1946)
• 3. Education
• The Education Act (1944). Although passed by the
  wartime Coalition government, the way Labour
  resourced and implemented the Act makes it worthy
  of discussion.
• 4. Housing
• 5. Employment

15
The social reform areas you need to discuss in
this essay are
The Social Security laws passed by the Labour
government were

• Social Security
• Health
• Housing
• Health
• Employment

• The National Insurance Industrial Injuries Act
  (1946)
• The National Insurance Act (1946)
• The National Assistance Act (1948)

16

• The methodical way to discuss each of the five
  social
• reform areas is to outline and discuss in order
• What was e.g. the health problem in 1945
• What action did Labour take to deal with the
  heath problem
• How effective were Labour in dealing with the
  health problem
• criticism of the government actions
• positive evaluation of the government actions
• We will use this format throughout the essay.
  This
• ensures there is a logical flow and structure and
  also
• that there is guaranteed debate and evaluation.

17
Introduction

• Social security Problems in 1945
• Government action on social security 1945-51
• Debate Criticisms of social security measures
• Positive evaluation of social security
  measures
• Link sentence into next section (housing)

Social Security

• Housing Problems in 1945
• Government action on housing 1945-51
• Debate Criticisms of housing measures
• Positive evaluation of housing measures
• Link sentence into next section (health)

Housing

• Health Problems in 1945
• Government action on health 1945-51
• Debate Criticisms of health measures
• Positive evaluation of health measures
• Link sentence into next section (education)

Health

• Education Problems in 1945
• Government action on education 1945-51
• Debate Criticisms of education measures
• Positive evaluation of education
  measures
• Link sentence into next section (employment)

Education

• Employment Problems in 1945
• Government action on employment 1945-51
• Debate Criticisms of employment measures
• Positive evaluation of employment
  measures

Employment
Conclusion
18

• Writing an Essay in Forty Minutes
• Very few Higher students will write more than 40
  sentences in 40 minutes.
• Therefore, you need to be clear about what the
  really important points are that you want to get
  across
• As we have seen, there are going to be seven
  sections to this essay
• Introduction
• Social Security
• Health
• Housing
• Education
• Employment
• Conclusion

19
Introduction 3 sentences Social Security 7
sentences Health 7 sentences Housing 6
sentences Education 6 sentences Employment 6
sentences Conclusion 4 sentences

• For each section in body of essay (approx.)
• The problem 1 sentence
• Government action 2 sentences
• Criticisms 2 sentences
• Positive evaluation 1 sentence

20


So, in your note-taking, you have to be
selective. But make sure you cover all the areas
i.e. for each reform, mention the problem, the
action taken and evaluate the reform.
21

• Problems facing Britain after WW2 (general)
• Britain lost almost a quarter of its entire
  national wealth during WW2 as well as two-thirds
  of its export trade
• Rationing remained much longer than expected -
  clothes, petrol and basic foodstuffs remained on
  the ration.
• Sweets and chocolate were taken off the ration in
  April 1949 but too fast supplies ran out and
  rationing had to be re-introduced in August.
  Bread had to be rationed in July 1946 due to a
  world shortage (ended in July 1948).
• It was not until 1954 that food rationing was
  completely ended.

22

• Shortages
• There were many items not on the ration which
  were still in short supply e.g. childrens
  clothes, toys, prams and cots.
• Whalemeat and snoek were introduced to the
  British diet because of a shortage of beef
  (normally imported from Argentina).

23

• After the war, sale of new furniture was
  restricted to newly married couples.
• Britain suffered fuel shortages during the winter
  of 1947.
• Shortages were to prevail until the early 1950s.
• Britains economy was battered by crises in the
  aftermath of the war - a 30 devaluation of the
  pound, inflation, and Balance of Payments
  problems.

24

• 1. Social Security
• a. Problems
• there was no social security system it was a
  patchwork without an overall design (Addison)
• the Liberal welfare measures had been expanded
  during the 1930s and again during the war but
  benefits were not available as of right and some
  people fell through the net e.g. wives of insured
  workers did not have equal access to medical
  treatment
• the uninsured still had to undergo the
  humiliating Means Test

25

• b. Government action
• National Insurance (Industrial Injuries) Act July
  1946
• Accidents at work were no longer to be a private
  matter between employer and employee, but the
  responsibility of society as a whole.
• Universality and compulsion were built into the
  scheme i.e all workers and employers would have
  to contribute payments.
• In return, the state would provide insurance
  against industrial injury. Benefits were set at a
  higher rate (45 shillings (2.25) per week) than
  those for ordinary sickness.
• For the first time, women would be paid the same
  rate of compensation as men.

26

• National Insurance Act August 1946
• All adults had to belong to the national
  insurance scheme.
• This would provide benefits to cover all
  eventualities from the 'cradle to the grave'.
• The insured population would be entitled to
• Benefits were set at the rate of 26 shillings
  (1.30) for a single adult and 42 shillings
  (2.10) for a couple.
• Sickness benefits could only be claimed after one
  hundred and fifty six contributions and
  unemployment benefit could only be given for a
  period of between one hundred and eighty and four
  hundred and ninety two days.

• unemployment benefit
• sickness benefit
• maternity benefit
• guardian's allowance
• widow's benefit
• retirement pension
• death grant for funeral expenses.

27

• National Assistance Act 1948
• The aim of the Act was to provide national
  assistance as a 'safety net' to meet the needs of
  those whose circumstances were not adequately
  catered for by the National Insurance scheme.
• The Act set up a National Assistance Board
  (replacing the Unemployment Assistance Board of
  the 1930s) to carry out these duties.

28

• c. Criticisms of the Social Security System
• In theory, National Insurance was supposed to be
  comprehensive and the payments sufficient to meet
  the people's needs. National Assistance was
  therefore designed only to provide a residual,
  back-up role to National Insurance.
• In practice, it did not work out like that. The
  government calculated and decided on benefit
  levels in 1946. These were to be fixed for the
  next five years, after which they would be
  reassessed.
• However, by the time the scheme came into
  operation on the appointed Day' (5 July, 1948),
  prices of goods had increased significantly, thus
  reducing the purchasing power of the benefits.

29

• c. Criticisms of the Social Security System
• One historian has calculated that welfare
  benefits in 1948 were only 19 of the average
  industrial wage and therefore well below
  subsistence level.
• Because of this, many more people than expected,
  particularly the elderly, were forced into
  applying for National Assistance.
• In 1949, 48 of all National Assistance went to
  supplement retirement pensions. That figure had
  risen to 68 by the late 1950s. The problem here
  was that National Assistance was 'means tested'
  and many old people were reluctant to apply for
  it, fearing the stigma attached to the hated
  Means Test of the 1930s.
• There was still a long way to go before the
  problems of poverty and deprivation were to be
  adequately addressed.

30

• d. Positive assessment of social security
• The state was now providing a 'safety net that
  protected people of all classes 'from the cradle
  to the grave'.
• It was a marked improvement on the former
  provisions and did help to reduce poverty. When
  Rowntree investigated conditions in York in 1950,
  he found that primary poverty had gone down to 2
  compared to 36 in 1936.
• The real value of pensions was significantly
  increased the elderly could now live reasonably
  comfortably compared to the 1930s.
• The social security system was to the real
  advantage, especially, of many women and also
  those of the lower middle class who had
  previously been excluded from most social
  insurance benefits. (Thane)

31

• 2. Health
• a. The problem
• only 21 million people (less than half the
  population) were covered by the existing health
  insurance system set up by the Liberals in 1911.
• The rest of the population had to pay whenever
  they desire the services of a doctor
• Many therefore tended to postpone consultation as
  long as possible because of the financial anxiety
  caused by having to pay doctors bills
• The national health insurance scheme did not
  provide for the self -employed nor for the
  families of dependants
• Hospitals still relied on flag days and other
  voluntary efforts to raise money to keep them in
  service.

32

• b. Government action
• passed the NHS Act in 1946
• NHS came into being in 1948

33

• Positive evaluation of the NHS
• provided a universal health service without any
  insurance qualifications of any sort.
• It was available to the whole population
• A full range of help would be given free of
  charge e.g.

• general practitioner service
• the specialist
• the hospitals
• eye treatment
• spectacles
• dental treatment
• hearing facilities.

34

• Positive evaluation of the NHS
• The NHS was providing the same real services as
  other countries but mostly at a lower cost per
  patient.
• Doctors, dentists and opticians were inundated
  with patients queuing up for treatment. This
  highlighted the backlog of untreated problems
  which the NHS faced.

35

• In its first year of operation treated some 8.5
  million dental patients
• and dispensed more than 5 million pairs of
  spectacles.

36

• Positive evaluation of the NHS
• Prescriptions rose from 7 million per month
  before the NHS to 13.5 million per month in
  September 1948.
• The NHS took on new functions
• The provision of hearing aids, false teeth and
  efficient glasses improved the quality of life of
  a major part of the population, especially the
  elderly.

• mass screenings for tuberculosis
• maternity and child welfare clinics on new
  housing developments
• modernised the ambulance service,
• provided by home helps and medical social
  workers.

37
Criticism
The enormous expense of the NHS came as a shock.
By 1950, the NHS was costing 358 million a
year The Labour government was forced to
backtrack on the principle of a free service by
introducing charges for spectacles and dental
treatment. Plans for new hospitals and health
centres had to be shelved. New demands put
pressure on the NHS e.g. more mothers were
wanting their babies delivered in hospital as
opposed to at home. New medical techniques also
created new demands and pressures e.g. cardiac
surgery was being applied to heart disease, and
the first hip replacements were beginning to be
performed.
38
Criticism Right wing historians argue that

• the NHS was too generous in allowing everyone to
  get free dentures, spectacles and prescriptions.
  This was wasteful of scarce resources. People
  were getting things they did not need.
• The NHS was available free to everybody from all
  over the world and this seemed to be overgenerous
  for a country so recently battered economically
  by world war.
• critics claim that Labour should have
  concentrated at first on investing in Britains
  shattered industries rather than social welfare.
  
• The country needed new homes and hospitals, but
  these should only have been provided (as in
  Germany) after the re-creation of an efficient
  industrial base." (Correlli Barnett)

39

• Criticism
• Left wing historians on the other hand argue
  that
• The NHS did not eliminate private health care.
  Bevan allowed private patients, in 'pay beds', in
  NHS hospitals.
• Charles Webster, the official historian of the
  NHS, is very critical. He argues that

• The NHS failed to improve the general medical
  service available to most people
• The lower classes continued to experience a
  humiliating standard of care and higher level of
  taxes.
• However, the middle classes (who could afford
  private health) benefited they no longer had to
  pay doctors' fees and they got the services of
  better GPs in the more affluent areas where they
  lived.

40
3. Education a. The Problem

• War and evacuation severely disrupted education
  there was a great shortage of teachers as male
  teachers were needed in the armed forces.
• Training of teachers was disrupted during the war
  so in 1945, schools lacked fully qualified and
  trained teachers.
• The most immediate problem in 1945 was the
  shortage and poor condition of school buildings.
  About 20 of existing school stock had been
  destroyed or damaged during the war.
• A long standing problem was the inequality of
  provision in education children from a poor
  background had very little chance to better
  themselves through education e.g. very few went
  to university.

41

• b. Government action
• The Labour government inherited the Education Act
  from the Coalition Government and had to put it
  into effect.
• The Act provided for

• free secondary education for all
• secondary schools to be divided into three
  different types (grammar, moderns, technical)
• pupils to be allocated to a secondary on the
  basis of an IQ test (the 11 plus)
• additional nursery and special education places
  were to be provided

42
b. Government action

• Due to post-war constraints, Attlee was forced to
  concentrate on the replacement of schools bombed
  during the war and on the building of new primary
  schools to accommodate the children resulting
  from the 'baby boom' of 1942-7.
• Labour raised the school-leaving age to 15 in
  1947.
• By 1950, 1,176 new schools had been built or were
  under construction, 928 of which were primaries.

43

• c. Criticisms
• As in health, the middle class seemed to do
  better out of the education reforms than the
  working class.
• There was no equality of opportunity.
• In theory, children were supposed to be allocated
  to the three types of school after an
  'intelligence' test at 'eleven-plus'. This was
  supposed to be an objective and fair means of
  selecting pupils irrespective of their social
  class background.
• In practice, it was a scramble by the middle
  class for the limited number of prestige places
  at the grammar schools.

44

• c. Criticisms
• Only 20 of places were available in grammar
  schools a tiny 5 of places were available in
  technical schools and so the rest (75) were
  classified as non - academic and allocated to the
  low status secondary modern schools.
• Grammar schools were high status schools largely
  for middle class children. They had good
  resources, well-trained teachers, smaller classes
  and better exam results. They alone were geared
  up to getting their pupils prepared for
  university.

45
c. Criticisms

• Pupils going to the secondary modern schools had
  little chance of going on to higher education.
  Their curriculum was dominated by non-academic
  subjects e.g. woodwork, metalwork and gardening
  for boys and cookery, needlework and secretarial
  work for girls. Pupils here had no chance of
  going on to higher education.
• The public school system (private schools)
  flourished as never before. Many middle class
  parents whose children failed the Eleven Plus
  sent their children to independent schools.
  (Pearce)
• A Labour government might have been expected to
  provide better resources for the poorer sections
  of society but this did not happen in education
  between 1945-51.

46
c. Criticism

• During Labours term, working-class children
  still left school at fourteen (fifteen after
  1947) with no paper qualifications.
• Labours education reforms compare poorly with
  the equality of opportunity and provision being
  carried out in the areas of social security and
  health.
• The middle class gained more out of Labours
  education reforms than the poor did e.g. the
  middle class benefited from grammar school fees
  being abolished.

47
c. Criticism

• Government spending on grammar schools raced
  ahead of expenditure on secondary moderns and
  junior secondaries, which the working class
  mostly attended.
• Correlli Barnett argues that Labour should have
  concentrated on building technical schools to
  help re-invigorate Britains ailing industries.

48

• d. Positive evaluation
• Free secondary education for all became a right
  for the first time.
• During Labours term in office, 35,000 teachers
  were trained under the one-year emergency
  training scheme.
• Due to the scale of the economic problems of the
  postwar period, it was widely recognised that it
  would take a generation to fully implement the
  Education Act. Labour was in no position to be
  radical.

49
4. Housing

• a. The problem
• The chronic housing shortage at the end of the
  war was the most pressing problem facing the
  government.
• There had already been a serious shortage before
  the war and this was compounded by the
  destruction of 700,000 houses by Hitler's bombers
  and rockets.

50
a. The problem

• In 1945, one-third of all houses in Britain were
  in serious need of repair and renovation.
• Very few houses were built during the war.
  Two-thirds of building labour force was in armed
  forces. The private sector was virtually closed
  down. Materials were reserved for war industry.
  Existing housing stock deteriorated during the
  war due to neglect.
• At the end of the war, the government's housing
  policy was hindered by the lack of building
  workers and the shortage and high cost of
  building materials. Timber had to be imported
  from Sweden and America.

51

• a. The problem
• Problem exacerbated by baby boom during the war.
  The population of Britain increased by a million
  during the war. This added hundreds of thousands
  of young couples to the potential waiting lists
  for homes.
• Due to the stresses of the war, the divorce rate
  was up 250 on the 1938 rate. This meant
  households being split and therefore need for
  more housing.

52
b. Government Action

• The government continued into peacetime the
  production of prefabricated houses as a temporary
  stop-gap to meet the crisis.
• Between 1945 and 1948, 157,000 'prefabs' were
  assembled. Despite all these efforts, there were
  still chronic shortages.
• Labours emphasis was on building houses for the
  working class four out of every five houses
  built were council houses.
• In 1947, the housing programme had to be cut back
  on Treasury insistence because of the effect of
  raw material imports on Britain's Balance of
  Payments.

53
b. Government Action

• Labours Rent Control Acts of 1946 and 1949 also
  kept council house rents low to help working
  class families with affordable accommodation.
• Many desperate families, out of sheer
  frustration, took to squatting on disused army
  camps in the summer of 1946. The government
  wisely decided not to prosecute them and,
  realising that this would help to reduce waiting
  lists, instructed the local authorities to
  provide basic services and amenities for these
  people.

54
c. Criticisms

• Perhaps more houses could have been built had
  more responsibility been given to the private
  sector. Certainly, many lower middle class
  families who could afford a house were not able
  to get one built.
• Bevan insisted that council homes were to be
  built to a high standard, with an average floor
  area of 1,000 square feet compared to 800 square
  feet in the 1930s. Perhaps he should have put
  more emphasis on quantity rather than quality,
  given the huge scale of the problem.
• The Labour government's record on house-building
  does not compare well with prewar levels or with
  the achievements of the Conservatives in the
  1950s.

55

• c. Criticisms
• Poor housing and homelessness were still serious
  problems at the end of the Labour period.
• The 1951 census revealed that there were 750,000
  fewer houses than there were households in
  Britain. This was roughly the same level of
  homelessness as in 1931.
• Traditionally, housing has been branded the
  welfare state failure of Bevan and the 1945
  Labour Government. (Timmins)

56

• d. Positive Evaluation
• Given the scale of social and economic problems
  facing the government in 1945, historians have
  tended to judge Labours housing policy less
  harshly than some of its other social reforms.
• Bevans policy was to help those most in need
  i.e. the working class. Most of the scarce
  building materials were allocated to the local
  authorities to build council houses for rent.
• Council houses were built to a high standard e.g.
  with toilets upstairs as well as down.

57

• d. Positive Evaluation
• After initial setbacks, the number of permanent
  new houses built rose from about 20,000 in 1945
  to 139,000 in 1947, reaching a high of 227,000 in
  1948.
• Between 1949 and 1951, an average of 196,300
  houses was built per year. In all, about 1
  million houses were built by Labour between
  1945-51.
• Though the record was not overwhelming, it has
  been argued that Labour came close to its goal of
  1945 in terms of the objectives of housing
  quality and affordable working-class homes.

58
5.Employment

• a. The Problem
• the problem was to avoid a recurrence of the
  slump in the British economy that happened after
  the First World War
• no one wished to see the return to unemployment
  levels as seen in the 1930s, but many expected it
• in 1945, idleness through unemployment was seen
  as the big brother compared to the other four of
  Beveridges giants.

59
a. The Problem

• However, the Labour government inherited low
  levels of unemployment in 1945
• The war economy had virtually eliminated
  unemployment
• by 1941, 200,000 were out of work
• by 1943, a mere 62,000 were unemployed
• essentially there was full employment from
  1943-5.

60

• b. Government Action
• The 1944 White Paper on Employment Policy had
  committed the government to "the maintenance of a
  high and stable level of employment after the
  war".
• Full employment was generally achieved through
• Beveridge had reckoned that unemployment could
  not be brought down below 3, but by 1946 the
  figure was running at only 2.5.

• the government keeping interest rates down
• this encouraged private investment and local
  authority spending
• the government controlling inflation (price
  controls continued rationing)

61

• C. Positive Evaluation
• Dalton, the first postwar Labour Chancellor of
  the Exchequer, claimed that full employment was
  "the greatest revolution brought about by the
  Labour Government."
• Careful planning after 1945 helped to ensure

• demobilisation was carried out without upsetting
  economic recovery
• there was no return to high unemployment in the
  pre-war depressed regions of northern and western
  Britain.
• unemployment throughout the north-east coastal
  region of England in 1938 had been 38 per cent
  in June 1951 it was running at 1.5 per cent.
• success in the so-called Distressed Areas was
  partly due to the application of the 1945
  Distribution of Industry Act.

62
C. Positive Evaluation

• Economic historians tend to conclude that it was
  difficult to see how Labours performance could
  have been improved upon.
• Britains growth rates were better than
  Americas. The wartime slogan Britain can take
  it had changed to Britain can make it.
  (Pearce)
• The single most important domestic achievement
  of the Labour government was the maintenance of
  full employment after the war. (Brooke)
• This was made more impressive by a climate of
  crisis and diminished resources. Between 1945 and
  1951, unemployment averaged 310,000 a year,
  compared to 1,716,000 for the period 1935-9.

63
C. Positive Evaluation

• Labours achievement of full employment by 1950
  led to a belief that further, more radical social
  reforms were not needed and that a growing
  economy would take care of remaining social
  problems. (Thane)
• The average real wage in 1949 was 20 higher than
  in 1938. People were better off.

64

• d. Criticism
• There is very little to criticise about the
  unemployment record during the period 1945-51
• Only once, during the fuel crisis of 1947
  (sparked by the exceptionally harsh and prolonged
  winter), did unemployment briefly approach the
  one million mark
• The raising of the school leaving age from 14 to
  15 in 1947 helped keep the unemployment figures
  down.
• Some historians argue that Labour can take little
  credit for full employment. Most of the factors
  affecting employment were outwith government
  control e.g.

• world demand was growing
• Britain could sell all its exports
• all countries needed to re-stock due to the
  damage and interruptions of the war
• therefore the government did not have to create
  jobs itself

65

• d. Criticism
• One historian argues that Governments role in
  the maintenance of employment during the post-war
  years may, with hindsight, appear to have been
  minimal.
• Addison argues Full employment was ..the result
  ofthe boom in private investment after 1945.
• Simpson argues that both factors had a role The
  government owed its success both to the good
  sense of its policies and to favourable trends in
  the world economy.

66

• Conclusion
• Britain faced massive problems between 1945 and
  1951

• bread and potato rationing
• severe shortage of raw materials
• fuel shortages during the winter of 1947
• a 30 devaluation of the pound
• inflation
• balance of payments problems
• losses of overseas assets and markets during WW2
• loss of one-quarter of its national wealth during
  WW2

67

• Conclusion
• Despite all these problems, Labour completed the
  Welfare State and maintained full employment.
  Could they have done better? Would the
  Conservatives have done better had they been
  elected?
• How you write the balance of your conclusion will
  depend on how critical or positive you are about
  Labours achievements in dealing with the social
  problems facing Britain between 1945-51.