Economy (+ industrial relations) Flashcards
When was Steel privatised?
1953
Butler’s giveaway budget?
1955 - £134 million in tax cuts
What was unemployment at in 1955?
Below 1%
What was the bank rate at in 1957?
7%
‘Never Had It So Good’ speech
1957
Which of Butler’s policies did Macmillan’s chancellors continue?
- operate a mixed economy
- follow a loose form of Keynesianism
Name Macmillan’s chancellors.
- Thorneycroft (1957-58)
- Heathecote-Amory (1958-60)
- Lloyd (1960-62)
- Maudling (1962-64)
Who was chancellor under Churchill?
Barber
Who was chancellor under Eden?
Macmillan
Deficit in 1964?
£800 million
Britain’s GDP? France’s GDP? Why was this?
2.3% compared to 4.3% in France. Part of this was because Britain wasn’t affected by the war as severely as France but also because they spent heavily on defence (£1.7bn).
What percentage of R&D was spent on defence? What percentage of Britain’s total GDP was this?
34.5% on R&D and this was 10% of Britain’s total GDP.
Who was Minister of Labour under Churchill?
Walter Monckton
When were prescription charges introduced?
1952
What was there a ‘paradoxical relationship between’ according to Jeffreys?
affluence and economic decline.
Impact of the end of the Korean War?
Dramatic fall in the price of raw materials in 1953.
How much more could Britain afford to buy in 1953 for the same level of exports?
13%
1959 pre-election budget?
£370 million
How many were employed in service industries?
5 million
When and why did Thorneycroft resign?
1958 after Macmillan failed to back his proposed package for budget cuts, although there had been underlying tensions between the two throughout his time his chancellor.
Inflation rate in 1961?
3.46%
When and how did Macmillan attempt to reduce inflation?
By applying for an IMF loan in 1961
When was the deflationary budget and what was this a result of?
1961 - a result of the expansionist budget that had been implemented earlier that year.
What did the deflationary budget include? Who broke the policy?
A 7 month pay pause - it was broken by the electricians’ union but was generally successful
By how much did exports rise between 1961 and 1962?
5%
Consequence of Maudling’s ‘dash for growth’?
Worsened balance of payments.
When was the ‘expansion without inflation’ budget? What was the growth target?
1963 under Maudling - had a growth target of 4%
On what did Maudling abolish the rate of duty on?
Home Brewed Beer
Neddy and Nicky
1962 - NEDDY responsible for long term planning and consisted of govt representatives, academics, employers and trade unionists; NICKY was created to keep an eye on wages and prices.
Beeching Cuts
1963 - recommended 30% of the rail network be closed. This caused public outrage.
What sparked a run on the pound?
The Suez Crisis
Who resigned alongside Thorneycroft?
Enoch Powell and Nigel Birch
Britain’s growth rate by 1964?
6%
