#4394 - The Politics Of Affluence Notes - 20th Century British Politics

BRITISH POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT SINCE 1900

Were the ‘thirteen wasted years’ really wasted?

Introduction

- Before the 1964 election Labour accused the Conservatives of presiding over 13 wasted years.

- Labour was held in opposition and forced to move its policy programme to the right.

Allegations made/arguments against/my analysis…

Conclusion

1951-65: 13 Wasted Years?: Barnes and Seldon

- Allegations made by Labour and Conservative response:

- Economic management and growth:

- Labour - argued that the Conservatives should have directly managed the economy instead of relying on money policy and free market economics. Go on to say that economic growth in the UK lagged our continental peers.

- Conservatives contend that GDP rose steadily, averaging c3% a year, taxes were cut, and real incomes increased by a half over the period. Further, a fifth of national output was spent on investment and personal savings rose greatly¹.

- Balance of payments:

- Labour – British share of world manufactures trade fell from 25% in 1951 to 16% in 1964. Conservatives should have maintained import controls to protect domestic industry.

- Conservatives maintain that the nation remained the world’s third largest export and saw a net balance of payments surplus over the period².

- Unemployment and inflation:

- Labour – contend that inflation was 50% over the years 1951-64, higher than peers. Unemployment of nearly 1million in 1963 was a twenty year high of 4.6%.

- Conservatives response was that unemployment averaged only 1.7% between 1952-64, and that 2million new jobs had been created. Additionally, the brought inflation down from c6.5% during Labour’s last government to c2.5% between 1958-64³.

- Regions:

- Labour – the Conservatives left a nation divided between a prosperous South and Midlands and a stagnating North.

- Conservatives made attempts to tackle regional inequality, establishing development districts, proving tax allowances, and investing in regional infrastructure⁴.

- Industry and Trade Unions:

- Labour – sought more government planning and intervention in ‘inefficient’ industries. Industrial relations were poor and anti-competitive mergers had been allowed to go ahead.

- Conservatives – strengthened the monopolies commission in 1953. Liberalised trade under the GATT. Believed the unions should reform themselves⁵.

- Education:

- Labour – the government abandoned the ideals of the 1944 Education Act and failed to abolish selection at 11. Investment in schools was substandard and the number of children progressing to university was low (1in20 in 1960) and below other industrialised nations.

- Conservative – Created 3.5million new school places and built 7000 schools. Invested heavily in technical education and trebled the number of students progressing to university⁶.

- Housing:

- Labour – 2.5 million homes remained in an unfit state in 1964. Local authority housing programmes have been undermined by free-market objectives.

- Conservatives – c4million new homes were built and 600,000 slums were cleared. Tax relief and 100% mortgages were available to those buying a home⁷.

- Pensions and insurance:

- Labour – the government had eroded the provisions of the 1946 National Insurance Act. Nearly a quarter of those retired had inadequate income to live on.

- Conservative – Pensions rose at twice the rate of inflation and NI benefits were increased five-fold⁸.

- Health:

- Labour – The principles underlying the NHS were betrayed – the introduction of prescription charges being an example. Hospital building plans were inadequate and there were 500,000 on waiting lists in 1964.

- Conservative – There proportion of GDP spent on health rose from 3.8% to 4.1% over the period. The amount spent on hospital building was five times higher in 1963 than in 1951⁹.

- Law and Order:

- Labour – Crime rose and prisons were increasingly overcrowded.

- Conservative – Improved police pay and recruitment and gave the courts more powers with the 1961 Criminal Justice Act. Outmoded laws were amended and a scheme of compensation for victims of crime was put in place. A major prison building programme was underway by the 1960s¹⁰.

- Science and Technology:

- Labour – The government failed to support university and industry investment in science and technology, and the free-market provided inadequate financing of this.

- Conservative – Total expenditure in this area rose from 1.7% GDP in 1955 to 2.7% GDP in 1962, ahead of Britain’s peers. The Ministry of Science was created and scientific manning rose 50% from 1956-1965¹¹.

- Colonies/Overseas Aid:

- Labour – The government continued Labour’s policies of retrenchment, but cases such as Rhodesia demonstrate a failure to abide by the principle of self-determination.

- Conservative – Mostly completed the transition to Commonwealth, and did so once successful handover was administratively practicable¹².

- Foreign Policy:

- Labour – Overseas aid was inadequate. Delusions of grandeur were vividly illustrated by Suez. Nuclear ambitions exacerbated Cold War tensions.

- Conservative – International aid grew threefold over the period, to c1.5% GDP when private aid is included. Macmillan resolved the 1958 Berlin Crisis, improving relations with Moscow. The government pursued test ban treaties¹³.

- Defence:

- Labour – The Conservatives showed incoherence on defence policy and wasted resources in pursuing an independent nuclear deterrent.

- Conservative – The government defended its nuclear ambitions whilst participating in the passing of the 1963 Test Ban Treaty. Created a unified MOD in 1964 and re-configured Britain’s conventional forces¹⁴.

- Europe:

- Labour – The Conservative’s should not try to take Britain into the Common Market, as Britain’s future lies close to, but outside the Common Market.

- Conservative – The government believed that de Gaulle’s objections to Britain’s entry would be overcome, and that membership was to the nation’s advantage. EFTA and Commonwealth trade would be safeguarded¹⁵.

Labour and Society in Britain, 1918-1979: J.E. Cronin

- Class and Party:

- Class identities and allegiances were intensified during the Attlee years.

- By the late 1940s it was perceived that the middle-classes were suffering at the hands of Labour.

- The Pattern of Social Change:

- GDP grew at 3.7%pa during the 1950s. Large numbers of workers moved from old, backward industries into more technologically advance ones; investment constituted 15% of GDP¹⁶.

-From 1950-66 the number of manual workers fell from 64% to 58% of the workforce, but overall employment grew. The number employed in ‘professional’ roles doubled to nearly one million.

- Those employed in mining fell by a quarter, in textiles by half, and in shipbuilding by two thirds between 1951 and 1965¹⁷. However, overall employment in manufacturing grew by 800,000 jobs.

- The number of women participating in the workforce rose from 35% to 42%, with most entering the lowest forms of manual or non-manual work.

- Mergers did take place at a faster rate than in the 1930s and 40s, but at a rate well below that seen in the 1920s. Further, many of the mergers that did take place did not deliver significant efficiency savings; e.g. the merger of Austin and Morris into BMC in 1952. Regardless, as late as 1961 the majority of workers were employed by firms with fewer than 500 employees¹⁸.

- Real wages grew by more than a quarter between 1950 and 1965. Whilst the proportion of wages spent on food remained relatively constant over the period, that spending purchased a vastly improved diet.

- Spending on consumer goods and cars increased significantly during the 1950s.

- Labour’s principle political error was in its failure to recruit into unions those in new industries and women entering the workforce; additionally, their political message adjusted only slowly to new affluence and a lessening of the appeal of socialism.

- The Politics of Stagnation:

- Labour treated social change as a political problem rather than a potential opportunity. Prosperity and low unemployment had empowered workers. Conversely, the Conservatives saw affluence as a moderating factor and embraced it.

- Gaitskell supported Keynesian economics, rejected government controls, and sought to allay voter fears over inflation.

- CND launched in 1958, and in 1960 the Labour Party conference went against Gaitskell and called for unilateral disarmament. Gaitskell also failed to remove Clause IV from the constitution and in general struggled to revitalise Labour’s aims and objectives.

- Harold Wilson succeeded where he failed by offering a positive alternative to tradition Labour policies.

- Union membership fell slightly over the period, from c45% to c44%. Clashes with the government, particularly in 1957, saw considerable demonstrations of latent union strength.

British Conservatism and Trade Unionism, 1945-1964: P. Dorey

-Free collective bargaining:

- The Conservatives supported free collective bargaining, and were happy for terms of employment to be decided by employees and their employers; they emphasised this during their 1951 election campaign.

- They still took an interest in wages, and urged unions to exercise wage restraint. Class loyalty had seen Labour achieve a union wage freeze from 1948-50.

- The alternatives to this policy were unpalatable: deflation, incomes policy, union legislation¹⁹.

- The desire to maintain high employment and good union relations meant that FCB was the least worst alternative.

- The problem with this policy was that unions failed to heed...