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Britain's Government - Coggle Diagram
Britain's Government
Conservative Government 1951-64
Post-war economic boom
Food rationing coming to an end in 1954
Higher living standards never seen before
Growing population end of 1954 there was 51 million people in Britain
Increase in oversea trade and high levels of exports and investments, imports also increased by 29%
1955 saw full employment be achieved which was a very large and uncommon and seen as "impossible" with only 200,000 unemployed which was 1% of the work force
Economic growth and high employment brought rising wages
Consumerism grew and saw a huge tax cut of £154 million
However Britain was falling behind when it came to industrial production so whilst wages went up productivity didn't
Why Labour lost the 1951 election
The conservatives rise above labour was due to their rising economy and well planned manifesto around their post-war consensus that won the public image
Whilst labour had their own problems the biggest being "In-fighting" the post famous case of in-fighting is the Nuclear disarmament which had a huge split for and against between the left wing and right wing. This showed labours failure to make critical decision making as the government couldn't come to agreements on discussions
Balance of payments
Stop-go cycle
The stop-go cycle was implemented due to wages increasing too dearly whilst productivity dipped, this of course brought inflation causing the price of goods to rise but at the time it was hard to influence the trade unions and tell them that there workers didn't deserve higher wages, this led to government control being taken which is the birth place for the stop-go cycle
The stop-go cycle was seen as half prosperity half not.
Stop cycle
It worked by imports exceeding exports, government controls high interest rates and freezes wages, this results in demands falling due to less money, output decreases
Go cycle
Stop cycle is completely removed, increased demand of goods, rising imports which then loops back to imports exceeding exports.
Although there was high wages which led to more consumerism it didn't encourage manufacturers to increase their export which led to a balance of payments
However Britain was falling behind in visible trade and overall trade balancing there invisible trade was on the rise
EEC application 1961
The EEC was a combination of Europe's major powers e.g Germany, France etc and gave many economic benefits
Britain at first didn't join the EEC, this was because 2 main reasons first being Britain still thought it was a world power when it wasn't as it had fallen from grace due to its economic problems and damages from WW2, the second reason was because Britain wanted to keep its special relations with the USA as they gave many economic benefits like loans and trade and acted as the backbone of Britain.
In 1961 Britain sent its application to join the EEC in hope that it boosted industrial production for a large export scale market, increase industrial efficiency with greater competition, stimulate economic growth with the rapid economic expansion already seen in the EEC
Britain's rejection to the EEC 1963
Britain when trying to join the EEC wanted to keep its relationship with the USA and its traditional trade routes with the commonwealth, the rules of the EEC also didn't settle well with Britain and finally came down to the rejection of the application
Suez Crisis 1956
"Wind of change"
The wind of changed marked the day where Britain began to withdraw from its colonies and lose its empire this had resulted in Britain losing its world power state but Britain did not believe they had which would cause problems in things such as the EEC application as it would halt them from joining thinking they were better off without the EEC.
The reason for this chance was because Britain was losing more and more money over time due to these colonies but wasn't getting anything out of it they also saw them self's fighting many independence groups which would stretch out the army and increase costs, simply the government couldn't afford it anymore and had to withdraw from them
How to plan an essay
What to write about
Provence
Identify valuable piece of Provence
1 point in favor of the value it provides and 1 lack of value it provides
Tone
Find the value in the source but dont find the lack of value
Only write 1 paragraph
Content + argument
Identify the content and find 2 valuable points and 1 lack of value
Write it in the order
Provence = 2 paragraphs
Tone = 1 paragraph
Content + argument = 3 paragraphs per identification of content
Labour Government 1964-70 (Wilson government)
Problems in office
When labour had won the election they had inherited the deficit of about £800 million which was devastating and would call for immediate economic reform, this led to devaluation in the attempt to step away from the old conservative stop-go cycle
Devaluation lowered the value of the currency compared to other economic systems, devaluation would lead to higher cost of important but exports would be cheaper meaning more would be bought by other country's such as America as the dollar was more expensive then the pound
In-fighting was still prevalent with Wilson fighting his colleagues challenged by Brown Callaghan or Jenkins which showed the public that Labour was still divvied which would make critical discussion making hard, proven by the vote for devaluation in the party only going though due to the outbreak of war in the Middle East which caused an oil crisis and effected balance of payments.
Social reforms
legalization of abortion
Divorce reform
end of capital punishment
education development and reforms
legalization of homosexual relations
Both partners had to consent, had to be over the age of 21 and had to be kept secret