Labour in power

Question 1

When did many say the war to be over ?

Answer 1

May 1945 even though the war against Japan was still not over

Question 2

What did people want from the next government after the war ?

Answer 2

homes, jobs and a chance for a better life for rationing was currently worse and it would take time for factories and farms to switch to peace-time production

Question 3

What did Churchill (conservative) and Attlee (labour) want ?

Answer 3

To keep the coalition government going until Japan had been defeated but the labour party and liberals wanted an immediate election and many conservatives also wanted an election soon (believed Churchills success in Hitler’s defeat would help win a majority)

Question 4

When did Churchill resign ?

Answer 4

23rd May 1945 and an election date was set for 5th July 1945

Question 5

What did the conservatives focus on in the election ?

Answer 5

Churchill and the war - not the party or the future. One of their slogans was ‘Let him finish the job’ - showing they used Churchill as their main argument

Question 6

What did labour focus on in the election ?

Answer 6

Focused on the future and promised reform - built on the desire for social change that war had produced - many supported them for they felt they had fought hard fro a better, fairer society

Question 7

Who won the 1945 election ?

Answer 7

Labour

Question 8

1945 election results (no. of votes + seats)

Answer 8

Labour = 11,967,746 votes - 393 seats
Conservative = 9,101,099 votes - 197 seats
Liberal = 2,252,430 votes - 12 seats
Others (5 parties) = 1,168,538 - 21 seats

Question 9

Why did labour win the election ?

Answer 9

• many didn’t trust the conservative promises of reform - conservative MPs had seem years opposing reforms that would build new homes and supported the poor
• many remembered the days of the Great Depression and poor attitudes of the conservatives to unemployment and poverty
• conservatives relied on Churchill too much - didn’t develop convincing policies whereas labour laid our policies for change
• Churchill made a huge mistake in his first election broadcast : said you could not have a socialist state without a Gestapo - therefore comparing Labour to the Nazis when Attlee (labour) was his deputy during war

Question 10

What did Ernest Bevin,minister for labour, set up during WWII ?

Answer 10

a committee to suggest how to improve life in Britain after the war - chaired by William Beveridge

Question 11

When was the Beveridge report published ?

Answer 11

1st December 1942 - 300 pages long and sold 70,000 copies in first few days

Question 12

Who disagreed with the Beveridge report ?

Answer 12

Many MPs - mostly conservatives, but they were aware that it had a huge amount of public support and that it would be harder to avoid welfare responsibilities once war was over

Question 13

Recommendations of the Beveridge report ?

Answer 13

• The state should support its citizens ‘from cradle to grave’
• The state had 5 giants to fight

Question 14

The five giants

Answer 14

• Want; the lack of basic needs such as food
• Ignorance; the lack of proper education for all
• Disease; the lack of proper medical care for all
• Squalor; poor living conditions
• Idleness; unemployment

Question 15

What was the purpose of the Beveridge report ?

Answer 15

to research how to improve Britain after the war

Question 16

Public response to Beveridge report

Answer 16

Very popular - people wanted the government to fight its giants and saw it responsible to improve lives
-from 1942 to the election in 1945 the government debated what changes to make - during the war it had set up free school meals and milk in 1942 as a wartime measure but after the war it put permanent measures in place

Question 17

When did the national government implement the Beveridge report ?

Answer 17

from 1944 but the labour party was voted back into power because people didmd believe that a conservative government would act upon Beveridge’s report

Question 18

Education Act

Answer 18

1944

(ignorance) - free education up to 14
- Coalition government

Question 19

Government building schemes

Answer 19

from 1945 (idleness) - provided work 
-coalition/labour government

Question 20

Family allowances act

Answer 20

1945 (want) - paid 5 shillings a week for each child after the first and was paid to the mother. Although passed by the National government payments didn’t begin until August 1945 - people instead credited Labour

Question 21

National insurance act

Answer 21

1946 (want) - took NI payments from workers and employers and provided unemployment, maternity and sickness benefits - also provided old age pensions
*workers paid 4s 11d into the national insurance scheme per week

Question 22

National assistance act

Answer 22

1946 (want) - poor law and earlier benefits abolished - National Assistance boards set up to provide government help to homeless, disabled and mentally ill

Question 23

1946 New towns act and 1947 Town and Country Planning Act

Answer 23

(squalor) - 17 new towns were built in England and 4 towns greatly enlarged (Crawley, Peterborough, Northampton, Warrington). 5 new towns in Scotland, 1 new town in Wales.

Huge local authority house-building programme ; by September 1948, 750,000 new homes built (number destroyed in war)

Clearance of slums and bomb damaged housing

Question 24

Education Act 1947

Answer 24

(ignorance) - free education up to 15

Question 25

Children act

Answer 25

1948 (want) - local authorities forced to set up services to protect children

Question 26

Housing Act

Answer 26

1949 (squalor) - massive programme of building new housing up to the latest specifications

Question 27

National health service act

Answer 27

1946 (disease) - free medical, dental and eye care for all - implemented in 1948