Collapse of Post war consensus Flashcards
The 5 pillars of Post-War consensus are…
- High tax
- Commitment to the NHS & Welfare state
- Government intervention in economy
- Mixed economy
- Strong unions
Why did post war consensus come under fire?
Other countries outperforming the UK economy.
to increase the UK’s economy the restraints of post war consensus needed to be removed.
Therefore multiple ministers and economists believed that the problem with economic growth lay with the post-war consensus.
What was Neddy?
Neddy [National economic development council established in 1961] was a plan to help boost the economic growth and development of the UK
What was Nicky?
Nicky [National incomes commission established in 1962].
Why did trade unions move away from wage restraints?
New members of trade unions didn’t remember/weren’t born in the days of the great depressions and thus due to changing times the new members which were now the majority of unions wanted to have higher wages.
How did Labour benefit from consensus politics in 1964?
Consensus politics during the time period after the war meant that the conservatives and Labour mainly had the same economic policies thus leading to general election battles relying more heavily in how good the leader was.
Wilson VS Douglas-Home was a mismatch in Wilson’s favour.
How much growth did Britain need to pay for wealth-care, education and health?
Britain needed a growth rate of 4% to achieve all of these things.
What was the key issue in inducing growth?
The key issue was that Britain hadn’t achieved a growth rate of 4% since the Victorian times. Therefore it was very hard to pay for all the things that the government at the time wanted. Growth is a long-term matter and therefore the conservatives didn’t want to do that as due to how when general elections pop up they were more focused on shorter-term impacts, as those are the ways that wins over voters.
What two ways were most effective in achieving economic growth? Why did neither of the main political parties implement?
Improving the quality of schooling and controlling the trade unions in order to attain a flexible labour market [you can get sacked if you aren’t effective enough].
What were the key issues in entering the common market?
It wasn’t popular with the majority of the country; people were worried about the idea of being close with Germany even though it was 30 years after the end of the Second World War.
What issues did Ted heaths government uncover during the issue of modernization?
Heath introduced a statutory income policy.
Why was the election of 1974 different to the rest of elections?
It led to a hung parliament as Labour won more seats [301] compared to the Tories [291] another oddity was the fact that the liberals won 19.3% of votes but only won 14 seats, this led to people arguing for an introduction of a proportional representation system as the Conservatives only won 39.3% of votes.
What became apparent with trade unions in the 1970s?
The leadership of the trade unions were younger and thought there shouldn’t be so much shared responsibility, this led to many being more left wing and socialist along with them being more militant, this spread into the Labour party and can be seen with the Labour leader Tony Benn during the early years of Thatcher. Trade unions leaders also began to lose control of members and thus there were a lot of action taken that wasn’t
What was the effect of the 1974 election on the liberal party?
They pushed for proportional representation, the election was an absolute victory for the liberals as they became part of the coalition government and thus they could pick and choose what bills/acts were pushed into law, as they were the deciding votes in parliament.
What is Thatcherism and why did it appear?
Thatcherism was greater market power for business, with minimal government intervention this created a free market, socially they were very right wing and believed in self-relicense and means tested. Thatcherism started with Enoch Powell and his attitude the neo-liberal approach in the Tories grew in strength and Margaret Thatcher was a believer in the neo-liberal approach.
