Theme 2 a 3 - The labour government and consensus, 1939-64

Question 1

What did Labour argue in 1945?

Answer 1

Argued that state planning should continue in order to rebuild Britain and solve the problems of deprivation and unemployment.

Question 2

What Labour politicians had been senior ministers in the wartime National Government and what had they been involved in and argue?

Answer 2

Clement Attlee, Herbert Morrison and Stafford Cripps.

• Involved in government planning and argued that the methods that had won the war should be used to win the peace.

Question 3

What was the 1945 Labour manifesto?

What did it make the connection between and argue?

Answer 3

“Let Us Face The Future”

• Made the connection between social welfare and economic success.
• It argued that economic success was necessary to pay for welfare.

Question 4

What did the Labour manifesto claim?

What did the Labour party assume in this sense?

Answer 4

• Claimed that welfare could promote economic growth and efficiency.
• Healthy, better educated workers would be better equipped to work productively in a modern economy.

Assumed that welfare would aid national efficiency and therefore the economic benefits of welfare would justify large welfare bills!

Question 5

What did Labour’s landslide victory in 1945 result in?

Answer 5

A dramatic change in the nature and role of the welfare state in Britain!

Question 6

When was “The Family Allowances Act” introduced?

Answer 6

1945

Question 7

“The Family Allowances Act, 1945”

What benefits did it provide?

Answer 7

Created child benefits for the first time!

From August 1946, the Act gave an allowance of five shillings (25p a week) for each child- with the exception of the familys eldest child.

Question 8

“The Family Allowances Act”

Who was the benefit payable to?

Answer 8

The mother rather than the father!

Question 9

“The Family Allowances Act”

What did the act lead to an improvement in?

Answer 9

Improvement in the status of mothers who did not work outside of the home, because they had a small income that was independent of their husband.

Question 10

When was the National Insurance Act introduced?

Answer 10

1946

Question 11

What was included in the “National Insurance Act, 1946” ?

Answer 11

• Levied a 4s 11d (25p) weekly charge on the wages of all the workers.
• Made unemployment benefits and sickness benefits available to all workers.
• Paid a state pension to all men over 65 and all women over 60. Pensions were £1.30 a week for a single person and £2.10 for a married couple.

Question 12

“The National Insurance Act 1946”

Who was the state pension given to?

Answer 12

Men over 65.

Women over 60.

Question 13

“The National Insurance Act, 1946”

How much money was given via a pension to a single person and for a married couple?

Answer 13

Single person- £1.30 a week.

Married couple- £2.10 a week.

Question 14

What was one of the guiding priciples of the National Insurance Act, 1946?

What did the act abolish?

Answer 14

“Universality” meaning everyone, irrespective of wealth would be covered!

Abolished means testing!

Question 15

The National Insurance act- 1946

What did Health minister, Aneurin Bevan initially hope would happen with pensions?

What did Griffiths argue about this?

Answer 15

• Hoped pensions would be gradually phased in over a 20 year period.
• Griffiths argued that many people already of pensionable age were poor and had lived hard- working lives.
• He believed they were entitled to pensions even though they had not contributed to the scheme. Bevan and Griffiths had been influenced by the harsh experiences of the 1930s poverty!

Question 16

What was the major flaw in The National Insurance Act, 1946?

What did this mean for the poor people?

Answer 16

The amount British people paid into the scheme was the same, whether they were rich or poor.

This meant that the poor people paid a much larger percentage of their income in national insurance than the rich.

Question 17

The Industrial injuries act, 1946

How did this act extend welfare?

What paid for this?

Answer 17

It gave the workers the right to compensation for accidents and injuries in the workplace.

The national insurance fund paid this out.

Question 18

The Industrial Injuries Act, 1946

On average, how many people a year were killed at work in the 1940s?

What job was most particularly dangerous?

Answer 18

• 2,425 people killed each year at work in the 1940s.
• Mining- accounting for over one-quarter of the total number of deaths and injuries in the workplace.

Question 19

The National Assistance Act, 1948

Who did it offer welfare to and who could claim from it?

Answer 19

Those who were not covered by the national insurance as they did not work.

The homeless, disabled and unmarried mothers were able to claim, as were pensioners living in poverty.

Question 20

The National Assistance Act, 1948

What did the act abolish and what did it replace them with?

Answer 20

Abolished the unpopular Public Assistance Committees and replaced them with a centralised National Assistance Board.

Question 21

The National Assistance Act, 1948

Who did the act delegate responsibility to and what did they have to provide?

Answer 21

Delegated many responsibilities for social welfare to local authorities e.g.

• Requiring them to find suitable accomodation for people in need.
• Promoting welfare of the handicapped.
• Encouraging voluntary groups to provide facilities and help.

Question 22

When was the NHS introduced?

Answer 22

July 1948

Question 23

The welfare consensus, 1939-64

What broad agreement was there from 1939-1964 and who was it between?

What did the centre and left of the conservative party see welfare as?

Answer 23

• Broad agreement between the major parties over the role of the state and the provision of welfare.
• Saw welfare as an essential ingredient of modern Britain!

Question 24

The welfare consensus, 1939-64

Who was Harold MacMillan and what did he write in 1938?

Answer 24

• He was an early advocate of Conservative welfarism.
• 1938- wrote “The Middle Way” a book advocating government action to regulate private enterprise and end social depravation through welfare

Question 25

The welfare consensus, 1939-64

As Macmillan was prime minister from 1957-1963- what did he want the government to ensure?

What did he believe the upper and middle classes should do?

Answer 25

• Wanted to ensure that there was no return to the poverty and deprivation of the 1930s.
• He believed the upper and middle classes had the responsibility to help provide for the poor. He also knew that cuts to welfare would be unpopular, and therefore make the conservatives unalectable.

Question 26

The welfare consensus, 1939-64

Was Macmillans style of conservatism unpopular or popular, explain?

Answer 26

Very popular!

• Radicals in the conservative party, such as Treasury Minister Enoch Powell, who advocated cutting welfare were in a minority in the Conservative party in the 1950s and 1960s.

Question 27

The welfare consensus, 1939-64

What did Britain spend on welfare throughout the 1950s and 1960s compared to other countries?

What happened to the cost of social welfare in the 1950s?

Answer 27

• Spent less on welfare compared to France and West Germany.
• The cost of social welfare as a percentage of the total GDP rose from 3% to 4%, with pensions taking up a further 3%.

Question 28

The welfare consensus, 1939-64

What did the Child Poverty Action group claim in 1965?

What did the increasing welfare costs and the persistence of poverty lead to?

Answer 28

• Claimed that 720,000 children were living in poverty!
• A debate over the effectivness and desirability of the welfare state. By 1970, the conservatives began to reconsider their commitment to high levels of welfare spending.