Attlee ministry
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. 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.
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, while James Chuter Ede was Home Secretary.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 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. 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 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' 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." The National Assistance 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."
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, not being a payment or payments— 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 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 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 Personal Injuries 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 Act, 1946."
More council housing was built, and plans were made through the New Towns Act 1946 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.
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.
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.
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.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.Consultants benefited from the new system by being paid salaries that provided an acceptable standard of living without the need for them to resort to private practice. The NHS brought major improvements in the health of working-class people, with deaths from diphtheria, pneumonia, and tuberculosis significantly reduced. Although there were often disputes about its organisation and funding, British political parties continued to voice their general support for the NHS in order to remain electable.
In the field of health care, funds were allocated to modernisation and extension schemes aimed at improving administrative efficiency. Improvements were made in nursing accommodation in order to recruit more nurses and reduce labour shortages which were keeping 60,000 beds out of use, and efforts were made to reduce the imbalance "between an excess of fever and tuberculosis beds and a shortage of maternity beds".
BCG vaccinations were introduced for the protection of medical students, midwives, nurses, and contacts of patients with tuberculosis, a pension scheme was set up for employees of the newly established NHS, The National Health Service Regulations 1947 laid down a number of provisions for beneficiaries including an officer's pension and retiring allowance, an injury allowance, a short service gratuity, a death gratuity, a widow's pension, and supplementary payments in the case of special classes of officers. Provision was also made for the allocation of part of pension or injury allowance to spouse of dependent.
The Radioactive Substances Act 1948 set out general provisions to control radioactive substances. Numerous lesser reforms were also introduced, some of which were of great benefit to certain segments of British society, such as the mentally deficient and the blind. Between 1948 and 1951, Attlee's government increased spending on health from £6,000,000,000 to £11,000,000,000: an increase of over 80%, and from 2.1% to 3.6% of GDP.