Changing the Status of the State

Paper Summary:

The paper evaluates the changing relationship between the individual and the state, its development since the end of the second World War, and to what extent the established Labour Party policy had been transformed since 1997, with the advent of the appointment of Tony Blair. The paper gives an appraisal of Clement Attlee's Labour government and its impact upon the role of the state in post war Britain. The post war consensus is given similar attention, along with the period from the mid 1970s onwards, which saw a dramatic reversion away from centralised government to place the onus at the feet of the individual. The paper does this by first examining the role and impact of the pre first World War Liberal governments from 1906-1914. Such consideration is vital because it is here that we find the first concrete attempt by a central British government to act as a provider to individuals and thus it is on such foundations that the actions of the post 1945 period must be understood.

From the Paper:

"In the election of 1906 the Liberal party recorded one of the greatest electoral landslides in British history. In the following years it boasted within its ranks greater political adeptness than arguably any government before or since, successfully re drew the constitutional boundaries in favour of the House of Commons and carried out a multitude of sweeping social reforms, surpassed only by the 1945 Labour government. For the first time in British history central government was actively attempting to provide for the wider population in terms and using methods that has never been seen before. Old age pensions, social insurance and labour exchanges dramatically altered the balance in the relationship between individual and state. The old Gladstonian tenets of self-help and betterment, which had characterised the Liberal Party of the 19th century, were cast aside in the interest of directly providing for the day-to-day fulfilment and protection of individual life. It is important to bear in mind these developments as we turn to the 1945 Labour government."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Ball, Alan R. British Political Parties: The Emergence of a Modern Party System. London: Macmillan Education Ltd, 1987.
• Dorey, Peter. British Politics Since 1945. Oxford: Blackwell, 1995.Halsall, Paul. Let Us Face The Future: A Declaration of Labour Policy for the Consideration of the Nation, 1945. Modern History Sourcebook, http:// fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1945labour-letsusface.html. Date Accessed, 2/5/2006.
• Sked, Alan and Cook, Chris. Post War Britain: A Political History, 1945-1992. 4th Edition. London: Penguin Books, 1993.
• Morgan, Kenneth O. Labour in Power: 1945-1951. Oxford: Clarendon, 1984.
• Pearce, Malcolm and Stewart, Geoffrey. British Political History 1867 - 2001: Democracy and Decline. 3rd Edition. London: Routledge, 2002.

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