In the first general election after the second world war the Labour Party, led by Clement Attlee, won a landslide victory. It won 393 of the 640 seats in parliament. This was the first Labour government with an overall majority in parliament. Despite a massive national debt by the end of WW2, it was able to establish a welfare state in Britain and enact policies that became known as the post-war consensus.
Here are a selection of its achievements in office:
- Improved the health of the nation Created the National Health Service (NHS)by nationalising the health-care businesses in Britain and integrating them into a single organisation. The enabling legislation took place in 1946 with the National Health Service Act (1946) and the NHS actually became operative in 1948[1]. It provided treatment free at the point of use for all, regardless of income or wealth. The latent demand for medical services is reflected in the fact that during its first year of operation the new NHS treated over 8 million dental patients and dispensed more than 5 million pairs of spectacles. There was an immediate improvement in the health of the nation. The health of working-class people, in particular, benefited. For example, deaths from diphtheria, pneumonia and tuberculosis declined rapidly[2].
- Established the welfare state Introduced universal entitlement to flat-rate pension, sickness benefit and unemployment benefit and funeral benefit to be funded by flat-rate national insurance contributions[3]. This more extensive system of social insurance benefits did much to reduce acute social deprivation. “The cumulative impact of the Attlee’s Government health and welfare policies was such that all the indices of health (such as statistics of school medical and dental officers, or medical officers of health) showed signs of improvement, with continual improvement in survival rates for infants and increased life expectancy for the elderly”[4].
- Took natural monopolies into public ownership Took into public ownership a number of industries that are natural monopolies such as electricity supply (1947), canals and other waterways (1947) and the gas supply (1948)[5].
- Nationalised the railways Created British Rail by taking control of the ‘Big Four’ local rail monopolies i.e. Great Western Railway, London, Midland and Scottish Railway, London and North Eastern Railway and Southern Railway[6].
- Decolonisation Started the process of relinquishing the colonies of the old British Empire by giving independence to India, Pakistan, Ceylon and Burma[7].
- Covered funeral costs for those unable to pay Provided for payment of funeral expenses (via a ‘death grant’) for those unable to afford funeral costs[8].
- Increased disability benefits Extended benefits for disablement resulting from industrial injuries[9].
- Established new towns The government set up a New Towns Commission in 1945 to consider how best to rebuild urban communities ravaged by the second World War. The result was the New Towns Act of 1948 aimed at reducing the overcrowding in large cities by the development of new towns[10].
- Urban renewal Designated ‘Comprehensive Development Areas’ (CDAs) within which local authorities were allowed to acquire property using powers of compulsory purchase to replan or redevelop urban areas suffering from war damage or urban blight[11].
- Social housing Empowered local authorities to provide people suffering from poor health with public housing at subsidized rents[12].
- Emergency accommodation for homeless families Gave local authorities a duty “to provide emergency temporary accommodation for families which became homeless through no fault of their own.”[13].
- Built new homes Over a million new homes were built between 1945 and 1951 “which ensured that decent affordable housing was available to many low-income families for the first time ever.”[14].
- Legal aid Provided for state aid to assist those who couldn’t afford legal services[15].
- Abolished cruel physical punishment of prisoners Abolished the whipping of prisoners, hard labour and penal servitude by the Criminal Justice Act 1948[16].
- War pensioners Improved war pensions by extended allowances for spouses and children in 1946[17].
(We include only 14 achievements by this government as it was only in power for about 52months, which is about 6% of the total time Labour has been in government since 1924)
[1] National Health Service Act 1946.
[2] Lowe, N., & Traynor, J. (2022). Mastering modern world history. Bloomsbury.
[3] National Insurance Act 1946.
[4] Morgan, Kenneth, (1984) Labour in Power 1945-1951. Oxford University Press.
[5] Electricity Act 1947, Transport Act 1947, Gas Act 1948.
[6] Transport Act 1947.
[7] Hyam, R. (1992). The Labour government and the end of empire, 1945-1951 (Vol. 2). HM Stationery Office.
[8] National Assistance Act 1948
[9] National Insurance (Industrial Injuries) Act 1946
[10] New Towns Act 1948
[11] Squires, G. (2012). Urban and environmental economics: An introduction. Routledge.
[12] Miller, G. (2000). On Fairness and Efficiency: The Privatisation of the Public Income Over the Past Millennium. Policy Press, Bristol.
[13] Holman, R. (1970). Socially deprived families in Britain. Bedford Square Press of the National Council of Social Service.
[14] Jefferys, K. (2014). The Attlee Governments 1945-1951. Routledge.
[15] Legal Aid and Advice Act 1949.
[16] Graveson, R. H. (1951). Examination note-book of the English legal system: including a history of judicial institutions. Sweet and Maxwell.
[17] Munro, D., Durbin, E. F. M., & Morrison, H. (1948). Socialism, the British way: an assessment of the nature and significance of the socialist experiment carried out in Great Britain by the Labour Government of 1945. Essential Books, London.