British History: Conservative economic policy 1957-1964

Britain's economy had picked up through the years of Churchill and Eden's government, after the end of the war, rationing and economic circumstance that came with this. However, this recovery was not as pronounced as had been hoped. Internationally, Britains developments appeared 'sluggish' when compared to those of America and Europe. Despite this, Macmillan's chancellors of the exchequer made no real attempt to change Britain's economic policy.

Instead, they continued to follow Butler's main policies:

1) To operate a mixed economy

2) To follow a loose form of keynesian economics

The main aim of these two lines of attack was to avoid the extremes of inflation and deflation by using a series of adjustments designed to keep Britain's economy at a steady rate. 

Budget Policies:

Budgets were often used as a short-term measuer to bias voters opinions in elections. For example, the Tories budget of 1959 introduced a range of tax cuts to persuade voters to vote Conservative. This was at a time when prevailing high inflation would suggest that…