Clement Attlee was invited by King George VI to form the first Attlee ministry in the United Kingdom on 26 July 1945, succeeding Winston Churchill as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The Labour Party had won a landslide victory at the 1945 general election, and went on to enact policies of what became known as the post-war consensus, including the establishment of the welfare state and the nationalisation of 20 per cent of the entire economy.Reeves, Rachel, and Martin McIvor. "Clement Attlee and the foundations of the British welfare state". Renewal: a Journal of Labour Politics 22# (2014): 42+. online The government's spell in office was marked by post-war austerity measures; the crushing of pro-independence and communist movements in Malaya; the grant of independence to India, Pakistan, Ceylon, and Burma; the engagement in the Cold War against Soviet communism; and the creation of the country's National Health Service (NHS).
Attlee went on to win a narrow majority at the 1950 general election, forming the second Attlee ministry. Just twenty months after that election, Attlee called a new election for 25 October 1951, but was narrowly defeated by the Conservative Party, sending Labour into a 13-year spell in opposition.
Leaders The Labour Party came to power following its unexpected landslide victory in the July 1945 general election. Party leader Clement Attlee became prime minister replacing Winston Churchill in late July. Ernest Bevin was Foreign Secretary until shortly before his death in April 1951. Hugh Dalton became Chancellor of the Exchequer (though had to resign in 1947), while James Chuter Ede was Home Secretary.John Bew, Clement Attlee: The Man Who Made Modern Britain (2017).
Other notable figures in the government included: Herbert Morrison, Deputy Prime Minister and Leader of the House of Commons, who replaced Bevin as Foreign Secretary in March 1951; Sir Stafford Cripps was initially President of the Board of Trade but replaced Dalton as Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1947; Hugh Gaitskell held several minor posts before replacing Cripps as Chancellor in 1950; Aneurin Bevan was Minister of Health; Arthur Greenwood was Lord Privy Seal and Paymaster General while future Prime Minister Harold Wilson became the youngest member of the cabinet in the 20th century (at the age of 31) when he was made President of the Board of Trade in 1947. The most notable of the few female members of the government was Ellen Wilkinson, who was Minister of Education until her early death in 1947.
Policies
It was an "age of austerity", as wartime rationing was continued despite the Allied Forces' victory, and was even expanded upon to include bread. Living conditions were poor; instead of expansion, the country's task was to replace the national wealth destroyed or used up during the war. The Great Depression did not return, and full employment was created. Returning veterans were successfully reabsorbed into the postwar society.Andrew Marr, A History of Modern Britain (2007) pp 1–111 The Attlee government nationalised about 20% of the economy, including coal, railways, road transport, the Bank of England, civil aviation, electricity and gas, and steel. There was little money for investment to modernise these industries, and control was kept by the government, rather than passed to union members. The Attlee government greatly expanded the welfare state, with the National Health Service Act 1946, which nationalised the hospitals and provided for free universal healthcare. The National Insurance Act 1946 provided sickness and unemployment benefits for adults, plus retirement pensions.
The National Assistance scheme established under the National Assistance Act 1948 (11 & 12 Geo. 6. c. 29) provided for discretionary weekly additions to meet special circumstances like diets and laundry expenses, while at the discretion of the National Assistance Board 'Exceptional needs grants' (lump sum payments to meet expenditure arising from special categories of need) were also available. In addition, "Rent was treated as a separate item of requirement: householders would generally receive their net rent in full, whilst non-householders would receive a 'reasonable share' of the rent paid by the householder, subject to upper and lower limits."Social Security Law in Context By Neville S. Harris, 2000, P.107 The National Assistance (Determination of Need) Regulations of 1948 laid down various entitlements to beneficiaries, such as a scale for blind and certain tuberculous patients and provision for applicants in local authority homes. A weekly sum in respect of requirements for rent was allowed, which in the regulations referred to "the weekly rent, or a proportion thereof, appropriate to a week, excluding arrears thereof, and the weekly proportion of outgoings borne by the householder including, in particular, rates, a reasonable allowance towards any necessary expenditure on repairs or insurance, and such portion as is for the time being attributable to interest of any sum payable in respect of a mortgage debt or heritable security charged on the house in which the householder resides, or on nay interest therein." Statutory Rules and Orders Other Than Those of a Local, Personal Or Temporary Character (varies Slightly). Volume 1, Part 2 By Great Britain. Laws, statutes, etc · 1949, P.2023-2028
Various disregards were also made under the National Assistance Act 1948, including any death grant paid to a person under the provisions of section twenty-two of the National Insurance Act 1946, any maternity grant to which a woman is entitled under section fourteen of the National Insurance Act 1946, the first ten shillings and sixpence a week of any payment of sick pay received from a friendly society or trade union, the first ten shillings and sixpence a week "of any superannuation payment or superannuation payments in respect of previous service or employment from which the recipient has retired or resigned (whether payable by a former employer or not), not being a payment or payments— (i) on account of a pension under the Old Age Pensions Act, 1936 or under or by virtue of the Widows', Orphans' and Old Age Contributory Pensions Acts, 1936 to 1941, or under any enactment repealed by any of those Acts, or (ii) on account of a retirement pension under the National Insurance Act, 1946," any payment "in respect of retired pay or pension to which section sixteen of the [9 & 10 Geo. 5. c. 32.] Finance Act, 1919, applies, including any payment in respect of a dependants' allowance attached to such a pension," any payment "in respect of a disablement pension awarded under the [2 & 3 Geo. 6. c. 82.] Personal Injuries (Emergency Provisions) Act, 1939, including, an increase in such a pension in respect of dependants," any weekly payment "by way of compensation under any enactment relating to workmen's compensation," any payment "by way of disablement benefit under section twelve of the National Insurance (Industrial Injuries) Act, 1946."National Assistance Act 1948 Text was copied from this source, which is available under an Open Government Licence v3.0. © Crown copyright.
More council housing was built, and plans were made through the New Towns Act 1946 (9 & 10 Geo. 6. c. 68) for the growth of suburbs, and to reduce overcrowding in major cities such as London and Glasgow. Since there was little money for detailed planning, the government adopted Keynesianism, which allowed for planning in the sense of overall control of the national deficit and surplus.Stephen J. Lee, Aspects of British Political History 1914–1995 (1996) pp 185–189Alan Sked and Chris Cook, Post-War Britain: A Political History (4th ed. 1993) pp 24–49William A. Robson, "Nationalised industries in Britain and France". American Political Science Review 44#2 (1950): 299–322.
The Transport Act 1947 established the British Transport Commission, which took over control of the railways from the Big Four—Great Western Railway, London, Midland and Scottish Railway, London and North Eastern Railway and the Southern Railway—to form British Railways.Gilbert Walker, "The Transport Act 1947". Economic Journal 58.229 (1948): 11–30. online
In foreign affairs, the government was active in the United Nations and negotiated a $5 billion loan from the United States and Canada in 1946. It eagerly joined the Marshall Plan in 1948. It could no longer afford to support the Greek government during the Greek Civil War and encouraged the U.S. to take its place through the Truman Doctrine in 1947. It took an active role in joining the United States in the Cold War and forming NATO. It gave independence to India, Pakistan, Ceylon and Burma and moved to strengthen the British Commonwealth.Stephen J. Lee, Aspects of British Political History 1914–1995 (1996) pp 261–266, 310–312
Nationalisation projects 1945–51 The Labour Party comes to power with a programme for nationalising the essential sectors of the economy, some of which had been weakened during wartime: finance, heavy industry and natural resources, along with communication and transportation infrastructure.William Ashworth, The state in business: 1945 to the mid 1980s (1991).Martin Chick, Industrial policy in Britain 1945–1951: economic planning, nationalisation and the Labour governments (2002).Robert A. Brady, Crisis in Britain. Plans and Achievements of the Labour Government (1950) excerpt 1946 Coal industry under the National Coal Board.Brady, Crisis in Britain pp 77–132 Bank of England.Brady, Crisis in Britain pp 43–77. National Health Service created (with separate units in England, Wales, and Scotland and for Northern Ireland) taking over hospitals and making medical services free. NHS started operations in 1948.Brady, Crisis in Britain pp 352–401Michael Foot, Aneurin Bevan: v. 2. 1945–1960 (1973) pp 100–215 1947 British Electricity Authority and area electricity boards.Brady, Crisis in Britain pp 132–138 Cable & Wireless.Brady, Crisis in Britain pp 284–306 1948 National rail, inland (not marine) water transport, some road haulage, some road passenger transport and Thomas Cook & Son under the British Transport Commission. Separate elements operated as British Railways, British Road Services, and British Waterways.Brady, Crisis in Britain pp 236–283 1949 Local authority gas supply undertakings in England, Scotland and Wales. 1951 Iron and Steel Corporation of Great Britain (privatised by the Conservative Government in 1955, and renationalised by Labour in 1967 as British Steel Corporation).George W. Ross, The Nationalisation of Steel: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back? (1965).Alasdair M. Blair, "The British iron and steel industry since 1945". Journal of European Economic History 26.3 (1997): 571.Brady, Crisis in Britain pp 183–235
Social policies
Health
Attlee's Health Minister, Aneurin Bevan, fought hard against the general disapproval of the medical establishment, including the British Medical Association, by creating the National Health Service in 1948. This was a publicly funded healthcare system, which offered treatment for all, regardless of income, free of charge at the point of use. Reflecting pent-up demand that had long existed for medical services, the NHS treated some 8,500,000 dental patients and dispensed more than 5,000,000 pairs of spectacles during its first year of operation.