british politics

Why did Labour win the 1945 election?

• The pre-war conservative reputation of mass unemployment
• Daily mirror (biggest newspaper) supported Labour
• First past the post worked in Labours favour ( The conservatives actually received more votes  
• After the war people were more optimistic and wanted  change for the returning heroes
• Churchill was unpopular and had a bad campaign
• Beveridge report was very popular and sold thousands of copies, labour was going to impliment it and the conservatives were not, 5 gaints- dieses, squalor, ignorance,idleness and want

Successes of the Atlee government-

• Granted India's independence
• Created welfare state NHS, family allowance ( child benefits)  
• Started the nuclear bomb programme
• Major housing programme
• Nationalised many areas e.g coal and steel
• Keynesianism- invest in public spending, build industries, create wealth.
  
• Butler act created grammer schools, for better education for clever kids

Failures of Atlee's government-

• Entry into the Korean war was unpopular
• Housing was slow and criticized
• Manufacturing dropped by 60% since wartime
• NHS in 1951 made people pay for spectacles, dentistry and prescriptions
• NHS was costly and created debts
• Rationing continued
• school system…