Social history of post-war Britain (1945–1979)

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Postwar Britain covers the history of the United Kingdom since 1945. For more details on politics and warfare see History of the United Kingdom (1945–present)

Periods in English history

Prehistoric Britain	until c. 43 AD
Roman Britain	c. 43–410
Sub-Roman Britain	410–c. 7th century
Anglo-Saxon	c. 449–1066
Norman/Angevin	1066–1216
Plantagenet	1216–1485
Tudor	1485–1603
Elizabethan	1558–1603
Stuart	1603–1714
Jacobean	1603–1625
Caroline	1625–1649
(Interregnum)	1649–1660
Restoration	1660–1714
Georgian era	1714–1837
Regency era	1811–1820
Victorian era	1837–1901
Edwardian era	1901–1914
First World War	1914–1918
Interwar Britain	1919–1939
Second World War	1939–1945
Post-war Britain (political)	1945–1979
Post-war Britain (social)	1945–1979

See also

Timeline

Postwar

Britain was a winner in the war, but it lost India in 1947 and gave up nearly all the rest of the Empire by 1960. The final major decision was the turning over Hong Kong to China in 1997. It debated its role in world affairs and joined the United Nations in 1945, NATO in 1949, where it became a close ally of the United States. After a long debate and initial rejection, it joined the European Union in 1973. Prosperity returned in the 1950s and London remained a world center of finance and culture, but the nation was no longer a major world power.

Austerity, 1945–1950

Conditions were grim in postwar Britain. Rationing and conscription dragged on into the post war years, and the country suffered one of the worst winters on record in 1946-47.

Britain was almost bankrupt as a result of the war and yet was still maintaining a huge air force and conscript army, in an attempt to remain a global power. When the U.S. suddenly and without warning cut of Lend lease fund in September 1945, bankruptcy loomed. The government pleaded for help and secured a low-interest $3.75 billion loan from the U.S. in December 1945. The cost of rebuilding necessitated austerity at home in order to maximise export earnings, while Britain's colonies and other client states were required to keep their reserves in pounds as "sterling balances". Additional funds--that did not have to be repaid--came from the Marshall Plan in 1948-50, which also required Britain to modernize its business practices and remove trade barriers.

Wartime rationing continued, and was for the first time extended to bread. In the war the government banned ice cream and rationed sweets, such as chocolates and confections; sweets were rationed until 1954. Most people grumbled, but for the poorest, rationing was beneficial, because their rationed diet was of greater nutritional value than their pre-war diet. Housewives organized to oppose the austerity. The Conservatives saw their opening and rebuilt their fortunes by attacking socialism, austerity, rationing, and economic controls, and was back in power by 1951.

There were some bright spots to sheer up the gloom. Morale was boosted by the marriage of Princess Elizabeth in 1947 and the Festival of Britain in 1951. The 1948 Summer Olympics took place in London in 1948. Reconstruction has begun in the battered host city, but there was no funding for new facilities. All the venues for the Games were lent by private or public organizations with little expenditure for rebuilding allocated.

Labour government

Foreign policy

Britain faced severe financial crises—there was very little cash for needed imports. It responded by reducing its international entanglements as in Greece, and by sharing the hardships of an "age of austerity." Britain eagerly supported the Marshall Plan in 1948, with its grants (with no repayment) that rebuild and modernize the infrastructure and business practices, and lowered trade barriers with in Europe. Fears that Washington would veto nationalization or welfare policies proved groundless.

Foreign policy was the domain of Ernest Bevin, who looked for innovative ways to bring western Europe together in a military alliance. One early attempt was the Dunkirk Treaty with France in 1947. Bevin's commitment to the West European security system made him eager to sign the Brussels Pact in 1948. It drew draw Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg into an arrangement for collective security, opening the way for the formation of NATO in 1949. NATO was primarily aimed as a defensive measure against Soviet expansion, but it also helped bring its members closer together and enabled them to modernize their forces along parallel lines, and encourage arms purchases from Britain.

Bevin began the process of dismantling the British Empire when it granted independence to India and Pakistan in 1947, followed by Burma (Myanmar) and Ceylon (Sri Lanka) in 1948. In January 1947, the government decided to proceed with the development of Britain's nuclear weapons programme, primarily to enhance Britain's security and also its status as a superpower. A handful of top elected officials made the decision in secret, ignoring the rest of the cabinet, in order to forestall the pacifist and anti-nuclear Left wing of the Labour Party.

The Media

The powerful press barons had less political power after 1945. Koss explains that the decline was caused by structural shifts: the major Fleet Street papers became properties of large, diversified capital empires with more interest in profits than politics; the provincial press virtually collapsed, with only the Manchester Guardian playing a national role; growing competition arose from non-political journalism and from other media such as the BBC; and independent press lords emerged who were independent of the party agents and leaders.

Prosperity of 1950s

As the country headed into the 1950s, rebuilding continued and a steady flow began of immigrants from Commonwealth nations mostly the Caribbean and the Indian subcontinent. The shock of the Suez Crisis of 1956 made brutally clear that Britain had lost its role as a superpower. It already knew it could no longer afford its largeEmpire. This led to decolonisation, and a withdrawal from almost all of its colonies by 1970.

The 1950s and 1960s were, however, relatively prosperous times and saw continued modernisation of the economy, as seen in the construction of its first motorways for example. Britain maintained and increased its financial role in the world economy, and used the English language to promote its educational system to students from around the globe. Unemployment was relatively low during this period and the standard of living continued to rise with more new private and council housing developments taking place and the number of slum properties diminishing. Churchill and the Conservatives were back in power following the 1951 elections, but they largely continued the welfare state policies as set out by the Labour Party in the late 1940s.

During the "golden age" of the 1950s and 1960s, unemployment in Britain averaged 2%. As prosperity returned, Britons became more family centred. Leisure activities became more accessible to more people after the war. Holiday camps, which had first opened in the 1930s, became popular holiday destinations in the 1950s — and people increasingly had money to pursue their personal hobbies. The BBC's early television service was given a major boost in 1953 with the coronation of Elizabeth II, attracting an estimated audience of twenty million, proving an impetus for middle-class people to buy televisions. In 1950 1% owned television sets; by 1965 75% did. As austerity receded after 1950 and consumer demand kept growing, the Labour Party hurt itself by shunning consumerism as the antithesis of the socialism it demanded.

Small neighbourhood stores were increasingly replaced by chain stores and shopping centres, with their wide variety of goods, smart-advertising, and frequent sales. Cars were becoming a significant part of British life, with city-centre congestion and ribbon developments springing up along many of the major roads. These problems led to the idea of the green belt to protect the countryside, which was at risk from development of new housing units.

The postwar period witnessed a dramatic rise in the average standard of living, as characterised by a 40% rise in average real wages from 1950 to 1965. Earnings for men in industry rose by 95% between 1951 and 1964, while during that same period the official workweek was reduced and five reductions in income tax were made. Those in traditionally poorly-paid semi-skilled and unskilled occupations saw a particularly marked improvement in their wages and living standards. As summed up by R. J. Unstead,

"Opportunities in life, if not equal, were distributed much more fairly than ever before and\ the weekly wage-earner, in particular, had gained standards of living that would have been almost unbelievable in the thirties."

Between 1951 and 1963, wages rose by 72% while prices rose by 45%, enabling people to afford more consumer goods than ever before. The rising affluence of the Fifties and Sixties was underpinned by sustained full employment and a dramatic rise in worker‘s wages. In 1950, the average weekly wage stood at £6.8s, compared with £11.2s.6d in 1959. As a result of wage rises, consumer spending also increased by about 20% during this same period, while economic growth remained at about 3%. In addition, food rations were lifted in 1954 while hire-purchase controls were relaxed in the same year. As a result of these changes, large numbers of the working classes were able to participate in the consumer market for the first time.

The significant real wage increases in the 1950s and 1960s contributed to a rapid increase in working-class consumerism, with British consumer spending rising by 45% between 1952 and 1964. In addition, entitlement to various fringe benefits was improved. In 1955, 96% of manual labourers were entitled to two weeks’ holiday with pay, compared with 61% in 1951. By the end of the 1950s, Britain had become one of the world's most affluent countries, and by the early Sixties, most Britons enjoyed a level of prosperity that had previously been known only to a small minority of the population. For the young and unattached, there was, for the first time in decades, spare cash for leisure, clothes, and luxuries. In 1959, Queen magazine declared that "Britain has launched into an age of unparalleled lavish living." Average wages were high while jobs were plentiful, and people saw their personal prosperity climb even higher. Prime Minister Harold Macmillan claimed that "the luxuries of the rich have become the necessities of the poor." Levels of disposable income rose steadily, with the spending power of the average family rising by 50% between 1951 and 1979, and by the end of the Seventies, 6 out of 10 families had come to own a car.

As noted by Martin Pugh,

"Keynesian economic management enabled British workers to enjoy a golden age of full employment which, combined with a more relaxed attitude towards working mothers, led to the spread of the two-income family. Inflation was around 4 per cent, money wages rose from an average of £8 a week in 1951 to £15 a week by 1961, home-ownership spread from 35 per cent in 1939 to 47 per cent by 1966, and the relaxation of credit controls boosted the demand for consumer goods."

By 1963, 82% of all private households had a television, 72% a vacuum cleaner, 45%a washing machine, and 30% a refrigerator. John Burnett notes that ownership had spread down the social scale so that the the gap between consumption by professional and manual workers had considerably narrowed.

A study of a slum area in Leeds (which was due for demolition) found that 74% of the households had a T.V., 41% a vacuum, and 38% a washing machine. In another slum area, St Mary’s in Oldham (where in 1970 few of the houses had fixed baths or a hot water supply and half shared outside toilets), 67% of the houses were rated as comfortably furnished and a further 24% furnished luxuriously, with smart modern furniture, deep pile carpeting, and decorations.

The provision of household amenities steadily improved during the second half of the Twentieth Century. From 1971 to 1983, households having the sole use of a fixed bath or shower rose from 88% to 97%, and those with an internal WC from 87% to 97%. In addition, the number of households with central heating almost doubled during that same period, from 34% to 64%. By 1983, 94% of all households had a refrigerator, 81% a colour television, 80% a washing machine, 57% a deep freezer, and 28% a tumble-drier.

Between 1950 and 1970, however, Britain was overtaken by most of the countries of the European Common Market in terms of the number of telephones, refrigerators, television sets, cars, and washing machines per 100 of the population (although Britain remained high in terms of bathrooms and lavatories per 100 people). Although the British standard of living was increasing, the standard of living in other countries increased faster. In addition, while educational opportunities for working-class people had widened significantly since the end of the Second World War, a number of developed countries came to overtake Britain in some educational indicators. By the early 1980s, some 80% to 90% of school leavers in France and West Germany received vocational training, compared with 40% in the United Kingdom. By the mid-1980s, over 80% of pupils in the United States and West Germany and over 90% in Japan stayed in education until the age of eighteen, compared with barely 33% of British pupils. In 1987, only 35% of 16–18-year-olds were in full-time education or training, compared with 80% in the United States, 77% in Japan, 69% in France, and 49% in the United Kingdom.

Northern Ireland the Troubles to the Belfast Agreement

Main article: The Troubles

In the 1960s, moderate unionist Prime Minister of Northern Ireland Terence O'Neill tried to reform the system and give a greater voice to Catholics who comprised 40% of the population of Northern Ireland. His goals were blocked by militant Protestants led by the Rev. Ian Paisley. The increasing pressures from nationalists for reform and from unionists for No surrender led to the appearance of the civil rights movement under figures like John Hume, Austin Currie and others. Clashes escalated out of control as the army could barely contain the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) and the Ulster Defence Association. British leaders feared their withdrawal would give a "Doomsday Scenario," with widespread communal strife, followed by the mass exodus of hundreds of thousands of refugees. London shut down Northern Ireland's parliament and began direct rule. By the 1990s, the failure of the IRA campaign to win mass public support or achieve its aim of a British withdrawal led to negotiations that in 1998 produced the 'Good Friday Agreement'. It won popular support and largely ended the Troubles.

Crisis of 1970s

The 1970s saw the fading away of the exuberance and the radicalism of the 1960s. Instead there was a mounting series of economic crises, marked especially by labour union strikes, as the British economy slipped further and further behind European and world growth. The result was a major political crisis, and the emergence of an entirely new political and economic approach under the strong hand of him Margaret Thatcher, who became prime minister in 1979.

Thatcher Era

Margaret Thatcher (1925-2013) was the dominant political force of the late 19th century, and often compared to Winston Churchill and David Lloyd George for her transformative powers. She was Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990, after serving as the Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was often called the "Iron Lady" for her uncompromising politics and leadership style.

1979 election

The Labour party under James Callaghan (prime minister 1976-79) contested the May 1979 election as unemployment passed the one-million mark and unions became more aggressive. The Conservatives used a highly effective poster created by Saatchi and Saatchi, showing a dole queue snaking into the distance and it carried the caption "Labour isn't working". Voters gave Conservatives 43.9% of the vote and 339 seats to Labour's 269, for an overall majority of 43 seats. People generally voted against Labour rather than for the Conservatives. Labour was weakened by the steady long-term decline in the proportion of manual workers in the electorate. Twice as many manual workers normally voted Labour as voted Conservative, but they now constituted only 56% of the electorate. When Harold Wilson won narrowly for Labour in 1964, they had accounted for 63%. Furthermore they were beginning to turn against the trade unions—alienated, perhaps, by the difficulties of the winter of 1978-9. In contrast, Tory policies stressing wider home ownership, which Labour refused to match. Thatcher did best in districts where the economy was relatively strong and was weaker where it was contracting.

Thatcherism

As Prime Minister, she implemented policies that have come to be known as Thatcherism. After leading her Conservative party to victory in the 1979 general election she introduced a series of political and economic initiatives intended to reverse high unemployment and Britain's struggles in the wake of the Winter of Discontent and an ongoing recession. Her political philosophy and economic policies emphasised deregulation (particularly of the financial sector), flexible labour markets, the privatisation of state-owned companies, and reducing the power and influence of trade unions. Thatcher's popularity during her first years in office waned amid recession and high unemployment until the 1982 Falklands War brought a resurgence of support, resulting in her re-election in 1983.

Privatization was an enduring legacy of Thatcherism; it was accepted by the Labour administration of Tony Blain. Her policy was to privatize nationalized corporations (such as the telephone and aerospace firms). She sold public housing to tenants, all on favorable terms. The policy developed an important electoral dimension during the second Thatcher government (1983–90). It involved more than denationalization: wider share ownership was the second plank of the policy, and this provides an important historical perspective on the relationship between Thatcherism and 20th-century conservatism.

Foreign policy

Thatcher was distrustful of the European Union and did not try to forge closer relations. Her major breakthrough in foreign policy came in the dramatic long-distance war against Argentina for control of the Falkland Islands. Thatcher played a role in the ending of the Cold War. When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, she provided support for U.S. President Jimmy Carter's aggressive response, such as the Olympic boycott. However, Britain's precarious economic situation at the time of the invasion led the British government to provide only tepid backing to Carter in his attempt to punish Moscow through economic sanctions. She collaborated closely with the diplomacy of Ronald Reagan in confronting the Soviets. She was the first major western leader to identify Mikhael Gorbachev as someone we can work with. She was annoyed by Reagan's invasion of Grenada (a member of the Commonwealth), and lukewarm support regarding the Falklands.

Thatcher was re-elected for a third term in 1987. During this period her support for a Community Charge (popularly referred to as "poll tax") was widely unpopular and her views on the European Community were not shared by others in her Cabinet. She resigned as Prime Minister and party leader in November 1990,

The economy after 1979

Main article: History of the United Kingdom (1945–present)

After the relative prosperity of the 1950s and 1960s, the UK experienced extreme industrial strife and stagflation through the 1970s following a global economic downturn; Labour had returned to government in 1964 under Harold Wilson to end 13 years of Conservative rule. The Conservatives were restored to government in 1970 under Edward Heath, who failed to halt the country's economic decline and was ousted in 1974 as Labour returned to power under Harold Wilson. The economic crisis deepened following Wilson's return and the mood b lackened more under his successor James Callaghan.

A strict modernisation of its economy began under the controversial Conservative leader Margaret Thatcher following her election as prime minister in 1979, which saw a time of record unemployment as deindustrialisation saw the end of much of the country's manufacturing industries but also a time of economic boom as stock markets became liberalised and State-owned industries became privatised. Inflation also fell during this period and trade union power was reduced.

The National Union of Mineworkers was apparently one of the strongest British labour unions. Its had strikes toppled governments in the 1970s. Thatcher drew the line and defeated it in the bitterly fought miners' strike of 1984–1985. Thatcher Government. The basic problem was the the easy coal had all been mined and what was left was very expensive. The miners, however, were fighting not just for high wages but for a way of life that had to be subsidized by other workers. The Union split; its strategy was flawed. In the end almost all the mines were shut down. Britain turned to its vast reserves of North Sea gas and oil, which brought in substantial tax and export revenues to fuel the new economic boom.

After the economic boom of the 1980s a brief but severe recession occurred between 1990 and 1992 following the economic chaos of Black Wednesday under government of Conservative John Major, who had succeeded Thatcher in 1990. However the rest of the 1990s saw the beginning of a period of continuous economic growth that lasted over 16 years and was greatly expanded under the New Labour government of Tony Blair following his landslide election victory in 1997, with a rejuvenated party having abandoned its commitment to policies including nuclear disarmament and nationalisation of key industries, and no reversal of the Thatcher-led union reforms.

From 1964 up until 1996, income per head had doubled, while ownership of various household goods had significantly increased. By 1996, two-thirds of households owned cars, 82% had central heating, most people owned a VCR, and one in five houses had a home computer. In 1971, 9% of households had no access to a shower or bathroom, compared with only 1% in 1990; largely due to demolition or modernisation of older properties which lacked such facilities. In 1971, only 35% had central heating, while 78% enjoyed this amenity in 1990. By 1990, 93% of households had colour television, 87% had telephones, 86% had washing machines, 80% had deep-freezers, 60% had video-recorders, and 47% had microwave ovens. Holiday entitlements had also become more generous. In 1990, nine out of ten full-time manual workers were entitled to more than four weeks of paid holiday a year, while twenty years previously only two-thirds had been allowed three weeks or more. The postwar period also witnessed significant improvements in housing conditions. In 1960, 14% of British households had no inside toilet, while in 1967 22% of all homes had no basic hot water supply. By the Nineties, however almost all homes had these amenities together with central heating, which was a luxury just two decades before.

Common Market (EEC), then EU, membership

Britain's wish to join the Common Market (as the European Economic Community was known in Britain) was first expressed in July 1961 by the Macmillan government, was negotiated by Edward Heath as Lord Privy Seal, but was vetoed in 1963 by French President Charles de Gaulle. After initially hesitating over the issue, Harold Wilson's Labour Government lodged the UK's second application (in May 1967) to join the European Community, as it was now called. Like the first, though, it was vetoed by de Gaulle in November that year.

In 1973, as Conservative Party leader and Prime Minister, Heath negotiated terms for admission and Britain finally joined the Community, alongside Denmark and Ireland in 1973. In opposition, the Labour Party was deeply divided, though its Leader, Harold Wilson, remained in favour. In the 1974 General Election, the Labour Party manifesto included a pledge to renegotiate terms for Britain's membership and then hold a referendum on whether to stay in the EC on the new terms. This was a constitutional procedure without precedent in British history. In the subsequent referendum campaign, rather than the normal British tradition of "collective responsibility", under which the government takes a policy position which all cabinet members are required to support publicly, members of the Government (and the Conservative opposition) were free to present their views on either side of the question. A referendum was duly held on 5 June 1975, and the proposition to continue membership was passed with a substantial majority.

The Single European Act (SEA) was the first major revision of the 1957 Treaty of Rome. In 1987, the Conservative government under Margaret Thatcher enacted it into UK law.

The Maastricht Treaty transformed the European Community into the European Union. In 1992, the Conservative government under John Major ratified it, against the opposition of his backbench Maastricht Rebels.

The Treaty of Lisbon introduced many changes to the treaties of the Union. Prominent changes included more qualified majority voting in the Council of Ministers, increased involvement of the European Parliament in the legislative process through extended codecision with the Council of Ministers, eliminating the pillar system and the creation of a President of the European Council with a term of two and a half years and a High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy to present a united position on EU policies. The Treaty of Lisbon will also make the Union's human rights charter, the Charter of Fundamental Rights, legally binding. The Lisbon Treaty also leads to an increase in the voting weight of the UK in the Council of the European Union from 8.4% to 12.4%. In July 2008, the Labour government under Gordon Brown approved the treaty and the Queen ratified it.

Devolution for Scotland and Wales

Main articles: Scottish devolution and Welsh devolution

On 11 September 1997, (on the 700th anniversary of the Scottish victory over the English at the Battle of Stirling Bridge), a referendum was held on establishing a devolved Scottish Parliament. This resulted in an overwhelming 'yes' vote both to establishing the parliament and granting it limited tax varying powers. Two weeks later, a referendum in Wales on establishing a Welsh Assembly was also approved but with a very narrow majority. The first elections were held, and these bodies began to operate, in 1999. The creation of these bodies has widened the differences between the regions especially in areas like healthcare.

Tony Blair: 1997-2007

Main article: Tony Blair

Tony Blair was leader of the Labour Party from 1994, and three times Prime Minister (1997-2007). With Gordon Brown he founded the movement known as New Labour. He was responsibile for British participation in the conflicts in Kosovo, Afghanistan, and—most controversially—Iraq. He advocated aid to Africa and other developing regions. He sought to modernise Britain public services, encourage enterprise and innovation in its private sector and keep its economy open to international commerce.

Blair was anxious to escape from the Labour party's reputation for "tax-and-spend" domestic policies and he wanted instead to establish, a reputation for fiscal prudence. He had undertaken in general terms to modernise the welfare state, but he had avoided undertaking to reduce poverty, achieve full employment, or reverse the increase in inequality that had occurred during the Thatcher administration. Once in office, however, his government launched a package of social policies designed to reduce unemployment and poverty. The commitment to modernise the welfare state was tackled by the introduction of "welfare to work" programmes to motivate the unemployed to return to work instead of drawing benefit. Poverty reduction programmes were targetted on specific groups, including children and the elderly, and took the form of what were termed "New Deals". There were also new tax credit allowances for low-income and single-parent families with children, and "Sure Start" progammes for under-fours in deprived areas. A "National Strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal" was launched in 2001 with the objective of ensuring that “within 10 to 20 years no-one should be seriously disadvantaged by where they live"; a "Social Exclusion Unit" was set up, and annual progress reports concerning the reduction of poverty and social exclusion were commissioned.

Iraq war

The severest criticisms concerned his decision to go to war in Iraq in close cooperation with the United States. He has been called "Bush's poodle" and accused of lying to Parliament. In 1993 critics said the Iraq war was widely expected to lead to a humanitarian disaster. The subsequent discovery that Saddam Hussein had already destroyed his weapons of mass destruction was used by critics to say there was no real justification for the war. Criticism mounted when the military campaign was followed by protracted factional violence. Only 12% of British respondents to an opinion poll in 2010 considered the Iraq war to have been a success

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See Evaluation of the National Strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal – Final report, Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 2010
See The Social Exclusion Unit, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister
See "Opportunity for All, 7th annual report, Department of Work and Pensions, 2005
Andrew Langley, Bush, Blair, and Iraq: Days of Decision (2013)
See Blair battles "poodle" jibes,BBC News 3 February, 2003
Michael Howard (then leader of the Conservative party) , House of Commons debate, 13 October 2004
See Anticipations of the likely humanitarian and economic consequences of war on Iraq, Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq, May 2003
See All things considered, do you think the Iraq War was a success or a failure?, Vision Critical, Aug 20 2010

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