From Labour to Conservative Government (Chapter 6) Flashcards
(63 cards)
1
Q
How many seats did labour win in the July 1945 election?
A
393 - 180 more than the conservatives.
2
Q
What was the result of the July 1945 election?
A
- labour wins the most votes but not a majority - therefore form a minority government.
3
Q
How many seats did liberals win the 1945 election?
A
12
4
Q
What were conservative failures during the 1945 election?
A
- Churchill’s popularity as a wartime leader did not carry over into peacetime - conservatives were associated with the depression of the 1930s.
- 1945 there was a feeling of a need for social and economic reconstruction - people felt that the conservatives could not achieve this.
- Conservatives ran a poor election campaign.
5
Q
What were labour’s advantages in the 1945 election?
A
- People felt Labour was better fitted to carry out social reconstruction.
- In 1945, Labour fitted the progressive Zeitgeist.
- Leading Labour figures like Attlee and Cripps had gained invaluable experience as ministers in the wartime coalition and had gained the respect of the electorate.
- The imbalance of the electoral system worked heavily in Labour’s favour.
6
Q
Why did Churchill refuse to put the Beveridge Report into practice?
A
Rejected it on the grounds of cost rather than principle.
7
Q
What social welfare measures came into place under Attlee in 1948?
A
- The National Insurance Act.
- The National Assistance Act.
- The Industrial Injuries Act.
- The National Health Service Act.
8
Q
The National Insurance Act:
A
Created a system of universal and compulsory government-employer-employee contributions to provide against unemployment, sickness, maternity expenses, widowhood and retirement
9
Q
The National Assistance Act:
A
Complemented National Insurance by establishing a National Assistance Boards to deal directly and financially with cases of hardship and poverty.
10
Q
The Industrial Injuries Act:
A
Provided cover for accidents occurring in the workplace.
11
Q
The National Health Service Act;
A
- A social security program created by modern welfare state of Great Britain; created socialized medicine that required all doctors and dentists to work for state hospitals
- The NHS would be funded through general taxation and National Insurance.
12
Q
The Education Act 1944:
A
Also known as the Butler Act; introduced free secondary education in England and Wales.
- Introduced a three tier system for secondary schools, Grammar Schools, A Secondary Technical and a Secondary Modern.
13
Q
The Family Allowance Act 1945:
A
Creates a child benefit of 5s.
14
Q
How does the movement to a welfare state reflect liberal values?
A
- In tradition with the liberal governments from 1906.
15
Q
Examples of resistance to the NHS:
A
- The BMA opposed it.
- Their resistance meant it was delayed until 1948.
- Doctors feared a loss of income.
16
Q
Why did doctors object the implementation of the NHS?
A
- Didn’t want to become state salaried civil servants.
- Feared government interference in doctor patient relationships.
- Were concerned that regional manager boards would take away their independence as practitioners.
- Regarded the NHS as a form of nationalisation, therefore treating the medical profession like an industry.
17
Q
Why did doctors not like Bevan as health minister?
A
- left-wing.
- saw his ideas as a political crusade rather than practical policies
18
Q
How did Bevan negotiate with the BMA to introduce the NHS?
A
- Guarantee that they would not loose out financially.
- They would be able to keep their private practices open.
19
Q
When did the NHS come into effect?
A
1948
20
Q
What were the main features of the NHS in 1948?
A
- Primary care to be provided by GPs.
- Dentists and opticians could work for the NHS and as private practitioners.
- Hospitals to be run by 14 regional boards.
- Community health provisions to be provided by local authorities.
- Free medical prescriptions.
21
Q
Concessions that Bevan made to the BMA?
A
- Enabling GPs to be both NHS and private doctors.
- Pay beds for fee-paying patients to be reserved in NHS hospitals.
- Teaching hospitals to be run by independent governors outside government control.
22
Q
What did Bevan hope would be the product of the NHS?
A
- A healthier society, meaning fewer workers being absent.
- Efficiency and wages would rise.
- From that increased state revenue, the state would be able to finance the NHS.
23
Q
What was the Health and Security Budget in 1949 compared to 1990?
A
- 1949: £597 million (4.7% of GDP).
- 1990: £91 million (14% of GDP).
24
Q
What was clause IV of the Labour Party’s constitution?
A
- Committed the party to nationalisation.
‘the common ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange’.
25
In Labours 1945 election campaign, which industries did they promise nationalisation for?
- Fuel and Power.
- Iron.
- Steel.
- In land travel.
26
Industries nationalised during Labour's 1945-51 government?
1946: Coal, civil aviation, Cable & Wireless, the Bank of England.
1947: road transport and electricity services.
1948: gas.
1949: Iron and Steel.
27
Why did people propose the nationalisation of Iron and Steel?
- It was not a public utility, but a private owned manufacturing industry.
- It was an effectively run and profit-making concern.
- Large investments had recently been made into it.
- It had an impressive record of co-operation between managers and staff.
28
Parliamentary reform act 1949:
Reduced the delaying powers of the House of Lords over a commons bill from two years to one.
29
Why was the Parliamentary reform act 1949 introduced?
- Prevented the conservatives from using their majority in the Lords to block the steel nationalisation Bill.
- Allowed it to become law before the scheduled end of Labour governments terminated in office in 1950.
30
What financial problems did Britain face in 1945?
- Debt of £4198 million.
- Exports of manufactures dropped by 60%.
- In the year 1945-6 Britain spent £750 million more abroad than it received.
31
How did defence costs worsen the financial issues that Britain faced Post-War?
- As a member of the UN Security Council, Britain continued to maintain a large peace time army ( In 1950 it stood at around a million men).
- Defence spending had risen from £2.3 billion to £4.7 billion.
- Attlees government committed Britain to the development of its own nuclear weapon.
32
What were Hugh Dalton and Stafford Cripps ( Labour chancellors) response to the economic issues that faced Britain post-war?
A policy of national austerity.
33
What were the main features of Labour's post-war austerity measures?
- Continuation of the rationing of food and fuel.
- Control on wages and salaries.
- increased taxation on income and goods.
- restrictions on imports to keep dollar spending to a minimum.
34
What was the response to the austerity measures put in pace by Attlee's government?
Trade Unions were unhappy at having to accept wage-freezes.
- threatened to 'weaken their members interests' .
- During Attlee's government there were a number of serious strikes.
35
How big was the loan that Dalton took from the USA and Canada?
£6000 million.
Hoped the it would work on Keynesian theory and produce growth.
36
What was one of the conditions of the America and Canada loan to Britain?
- Required that British pound sterling had to be made convertible tot he dollar in international trade.
- However, sterling being stronger led to the dollar gap.
- Meant that American and international traders could insist that Britain paid for its purchases from the, in dollars - drained Britain of a substantial part of the loan.
37
What happened during the sterling crisis 1947 and 1949?
'run on the funds'.
- foreign investors withdrew their money from Britain in large amounts.
38
What happened during the crisis in 1947?
- sterling crisis.
- one of the worst winters experienced in Britain.
- Coal mines and power stations could not meet demands.
- 2 million workers laid off as a lack of fuel forced factories to close.
- The monthly dollar gap rose to $150 million between January and April 1947.
39
How did Britain benefit from Marshall Aid?
$15 billion dollars was offered to Europe in Marshall aid.
- Britain received 10% of it.
40
What evidence is there that Britain became an international power during Attlee's Labour government?
- Britain became on of the big 5 members of the UN security Council.
- Britain sided with the USA during the Cold War.
- Britain declined to become formally involved in Europe.
- Britain granted India independence.
- Britain became a nuclear power.
41
Example of a challenge to Attlee's government over its foreign policy agenda:
- 1946, 60 Labour Backbench MPs introduced an amendment criticising the government for its pro-American stance.
- Called on Attlee's government to co-operate less with the USA and more with the Soviet Union.
42
Why did Labour MPs disliked Attlee's government decision to accept Marshall Aid?
- The financial arrangement tied Britain to the USA.
- Denied the government any chance to operate independently in the post-war world.
43
Example of a policy that showed Labours support for America during the cold-war?
Bevin signing Bevin up to NATO.
Following Trumans doctrine of containment.
- Willingness of the Labour government to support the Berlin airlift and the Korean War.
44
What role did Britain play in the Berlin Airlift?
With the USA 1948-9, it painted the population go West Berlin with 1.25 million tonnes of food.
45
What happened during the Korean War 1950-3?
- First conflict of the Cold War.
- Britain gave the USA substantial diplomatic and military support.
- 1788 servicemen were killed or injured.
46
What was the Schuman Plan 1951?
- introduced by Robert Schulman, scheme for European nations to pool their most productive resources - coal and steel - in a European Coal and Steel Community.
- Bevin who felt that Britain's interest could be best protected by developing its ties with America refrained to be involved.
47
Why did Bevin not want to join the ECSC in 1951?
- Felt British interests could be better protected with America.
- Would lead to the loss of individual national sovereignty.
- labour had struggled to get coal and steel into public ownership and therefore did not want to give that over.
- Conservatives supported Labours views.
48
What religious divisions in India prevented a peaceful transition to independence?
- Hinduism, Islam and Sikhism.
49
What were Mountbatten proposals for Indian independence?
- Subcontinent to be divided into India - predominantly Hindu. Pakistan and East Pakistan - mainly Muslim.
- The date for the formal end of British rule brought forward from 1948 to 1947.
50
What was the result of independence in India/
- Congress was unhappy to see India being broken up.
- Sikhs unhappy because they didn't have a set region.
- In the same week that the transfer of power from Britain, civil war broke out.
- 3 million men women and children were killed.
51
Why did Bevin decide that Britain needed a nuclear weapon?
- If Britain wanted to continue to be a world power and retain parity with the US it needed a nuclear weapon.
- Nuclear programme began in 1947.
- Britain's first atomic bomb was detonated in 1952.
52
What was the Labour parties reaction to the governments development of a nuclear weapon?
- Unhappy that the Labour government had decide to develop it in secret.
- Debates as to whether Britain could afford it.
53
By how much did Labours popular vote share increased by in the 1950 election?
1.25 million.
54
What was the result of the 1950 election?
Labour win an overall majority of 5.
Attlee decides to stay in government, however after 20 months decides to call another general election.
55
Why was an election called in 1951?
Attlee's Labour government only had a majority of 5.
There was an open rebellion in the government - Bevan led a number of ministers in resigning from the cabinet in protest.
56
What was the result of the 1951 election?
Conservatives win a narrow majority with 321 seats.
57
What were the reasons for Labour's 1951 defeat:
- Attlee's government was worn down by financial problems.
- A number of members - including Attlee and Bevin - had been working continuously since 1940.
- Divisions over the left and right of the party over economic, welfare and foreign policies.
- Resentment among some trade unions at Labour's slowness in responding to workers demands.
- Labour found it hard to shake off it image as a party of rationing and high taxation.
- Brian's entry into the Korean War made the left of the Labour Party unhappy.
58
What were Conservative Advantages in 1951?
- 1950 election saw an influx of conservative MPs.
- Attack on the Govs nationalisation of iron and steel provided a platform for opposition attacks.
- Some of the electorate were impressed by the conservatives' projection of themselves as upholders of liberty and individualism.
59
What criticism did Attlee's government from the left?
- The govs nationalisation programme wasn't really an attempt to take control of the economy - no effort to take over private banks and insurance companies.
- By borrowing heavily from the USA, Attlee's government lost its freedom of action in foreign policy.
- social reforms had not greatly improved the conditions and status of workers and women
- The NHS failed to fulfil expectations - benefited the middle class who already access to better treatment in more prosperous areas.
60
What criticism did Attlee's government receive from the right?
- Wanted Britain to prioritise the reconstruction of Britain's industrial base post-war.
- Felt that welfare was top costly and Britain had to borrow too heavily to fund it.
61
What policies did the labour government lay down that would be implemented by successive labour and conservative governments?
- Keynesian principles of public expenditure.
- Welfare policies based on the implementation of the Beveridge report.
- Foreign policy base on pro-americas and anti-soviet.
-imperial policies based on decolonisation and independence.
62
What did Labour achieve between 1945 and 1951?
- Created the welfare state.
- Carried into peace-time the notion of state-direct planning.
- Established Keynesianism as the basic approach to economic planning.
- By withdrawing from India, precedent set for British decolonisation.
63
What were the main achievements of the Attlee Government 1945-51?
- large scale nationalisation programme.
- welfare state
- convinced the USA of the need for the Marshall Plan.
- Granted India independence.
- Played a key role in the formation of NATO.
- Committed Britain to the Berlin Airlift and the Korean War.
- Organised the 1951 Festival of Britain.
- Started the Programme that turned Britain into a Nuclear power.
