Do You Agree with the View That the Conservative Party’s Policies in the Years 1951-59 “Hindered the Country’s Economic Development”?

However, it wasn’t solely the government that was influencing the economy, there were other factors that played a vital role in Britain’s recovery too. For example, the expansion of the economy was mainly in new industries such as electrical engineering, which grew at between 4-5% per annum, and expanded so rapidly that in the 1930s electricity consumption per head of population increased by 70%. Furthermore, industries such as household electrical goods, cars, and transport flourished in parts of the south and midlands creating new jobs which gave people money to spend and created even more demand for new products. It is therefore arguable that it was new technology

Labour disunity was a huge contributing factor as to why the conservatives were able to dominate from 1951 to 1964. However, there are also other factors that assisted conservative dominance. Whether that be conservative strengths, good timing, the end of austerity or their handle on public opinion, all factors contributed to the dominant years. However, how long the conservatives actually dominated is also a question. Did they dominate for the whole period, or just part of it? The years 1962-1964 question conservative dominance and how labour reunited.

Secondly, as Wilson faced crises in the failure of Trade Union reform and a stagnant economy, the Tories moved steadily to the right, many seeing this as a successful move by Heath. The move to the right got a massive publicity boost in Selsdon Park Hotel at a shadow cabinet meeting (January 1970) in the run-up to the election. In the public eye, the term ‘Selsdon Man’ (a phrase readily clutched by the media) meant a return to free enterprise -which directly contrasted Wilson’s policies of interventionism - the return to the values of hard work, trade union reform and a more efficient and independent industry. These ideas, although not particularly revolutionary in terms of policy for Tories, in election year provided a real incentive to frustrated voters, who looked at the struggling Wilson government whose interventionist policies were having little upswing effect on the economy. Many see the conference as an end of consensus politics, and the start of a marathon political battle between the two leaders. The fact that the Tories gained such publicity at Selsdon, and managed to convince the electorate that contrasting policies to the labour government such as the move to a more free market economy was necessary, showed Heath to be a successful leader in the outset of his campaign.

Before the Gilded Age, economic growth came to a halt because of the Depression of 1873. The depression led to the bankruptcy of many banks and railroads, and resulted in hundreds of thousands of people out of work. The Liberal Republican party also emerged as result of the depression. Liberal Republicans were strong advocates for laissez faire policies, where there is no government regulation in businesses or the economy. With this ideology, liberal republicans believed that it would help stimulate economic growth and create more jobs. While liberal republicans were unsuccessful in getting into office, they helped push the Democratic party (who were able to get control of the House in 1784) shift their agenda to supporting laissez faire capitalism. By 1879, The Depression of 1873 had ended and the second Industrial Revolution began.

All of these economic changes made by Margaret Thatcher were extremely right wing with very capitalist values. All her policies were heavily criticised by Labour which is why it seems strange that Tony Blair has adopted many of her values and policies. As labour were so against privatisation in the 1980's most thought that they would try and change things when they were in power. This of course was not the case and in 1997 Tony Blair's labour government showed willingness to keep privatisation as an option and private ownership plans were not disgarded as some thought they might be, they were in fact extended. Blair's government planned to sell 51% of air traffic control and they also introduced private ownership in some of the London Underground's busiest lines.

Even though these difficulties Brown still produced the ‘National Plan’ which aimed at the economic targets set out in the General Election of 1964. It was an achievement to create this plan which aimed at stimulating industrial production and exports by encouraging cooperation between the government, employers and trade unions. It was a success that the plan was drafted however it was a failed attempt. The grand expansion targets set out in the plan were not met because at the time it was

The political scene was dominated by a Liberal party that would not "commit a five cent piece towards the cost of unemployment relief" . This eventually led to their defeat in the summer of 1930. The winner of the election was the Conservative party. Their goal was to get Canada back up and running. In an effort to do so, they raised tariffs on imports and tried to protect national interests. This actually had the opposite affect on the economy and pushed the country further into economic hardship. The government around this time was also trying to balance the budget. In order to balance the budget, they increased taxes which also had a detrimental affect on the economy. After five years, the Conservatives were defeated due to unorganized leadership. The Liberals won the election in 1935. Although

Conservatives were interested in keeping mercantilism, where the government regulated trade and economic activity to increase the wealth of the nation itself. Conservatives wanted this because it kept the gap between rich and poor, allowing many of them to maintain their wealth. They also expected this to keep traditions in place and allow the nation and government to have more power than the individual. However, this system only helped bring upon revolutions from working classes who were opposed to the lack of individual choice in a self-regulated market. This

jobs and voting. So for many years the government struggled to keep up with the racing changes of the

Between 1906 and 1914 the liberal democrats where in power, at this time it was becoming apparent that poverty was a big problem in Britain and reports from two men, Charles Booth and Seebolm Rowntree who had interests in social reform and the poorest off people of Britain, showed that many people in Britain where living below the poverty line. The liberals realised that in order to stay in power they had to make social changes and leave behind old laissez faire liberal ideas. Because of the level of poverty many families lived in bad housing had a poor diet and poor health. The Liberal government began a series of reforms aimed at helping

A significant failure experienced by the Whitlam government was economic issues. Economic issues were causing major dispute and controversial opinions from the public. By the end of the Whitlam governments term inflation had reached 15% and wage inflation was 30%. Large portions of money funding by the Labor governments were now being spent on numerous welfare programs established by the Whitlam government and were adding hugely to Australia’s debts. When the Whitlam government entered office in 1972, unemployment rates sat at 2%, by the end of this term in 1975 this increased to 5%. From a surplus of 1.5% of GDP in 1973, the balance of Australia’s transactions with the world crashed to a deficit of 3.2% by the end of 1974. Additionally, following a significant downfall in 1974, the Commonwealth budget was in serious deficit. As the Whitlam government pressed on with its big spending reforms despite pleas of restraint from the Treasury, Commonwealth spending surged 46% in 1974-1975, dwarfing the 20% rise the year before. The economic problem in the Whitlam government was one that required serious attention and reconstruction. The economic scheme that the Whitlam government had in play was very unpractical unrewarding and caused many issues. The popularity and trust in the Whitlam government began to rapidly decline after the 1974 election as the government

‘The Labour governments of 1964-1970 were more successful than the Labour governments of 1974-1979.’ How far do you agree?

During the 18 century, in Britain occurred the most important phenomenon that changed the history, Industrial Revolution. It was a major turning point in their history but in the world’s history as well because the impact of the inventions changed the economical, social and political field forever. The standard of living increased therefore the population had increased.

When Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister the first thing she wanted to do was limit union power. She felt that union power applied to nationalized industrial monopolies resulted in poor service at exorbitant cost to the taxpayers. She pointed to inefficient work practices, over employment and restrictive employment

The new Conservative Government differed significantly from the Conservative Governments that had been in power throughout the ‘Butskellism’ era. Butskellism is an acronym derived from the cross party consensus on state welfare and housing that had dominated since the 1950s (Alcock, May & Wright, 2012). The Conservatives New Right ideology was one that advocated privatisation, managerialism and competitive markets. The ideology supported the sale and privatisation of National commodities such as British Steel, British Telecom, and other utilities such as water, gas, and electric (Bochel, 2012). Housing did not escape the Conservative Governments goal of complete privatisation; according to Legislation.gov.uk (2015), in August 1980, chapter 51 of the Housing Act 1980 incorporated the right to buy scheme. As supported by Baldock et al (2012), the right to buy refers to a housing policy that supported the compulsory sale of council