Social Welfare in Britain

1. Social Welfare in Britain Revision Lecture: (1) Term 2 topics and (2) General Advice

2. Term Two Topics • From Thatcher to Blair, Brown and Beyond • But end of post-war consensus 1976 IMF cuts -time of economic crisis, just like now • Then rising unemployment and inflation marked end of Keynesian approach • Rising conflict: labour, Ireland, feminism, antiracism • Shift to post-industrialism • Globalisation starts to undermine the nation-state

3. Political landmarks in my Life • 1974 Labour government promises radical social reform • 1976 Labour government implements IMF Cuts • 1979 Thatcher wins first election after 1978-9 ‘Winter of Discontent’ • 1983 Thatcher wins 2nd term after Falklands war • 1990 Coup against Thatcher by Major • 1992 Major wins 4th term • 1997 Landslide New Labour victory • 2010 election - ?

4. Thatcher – ideological break? • Not just an political/ideological shift • Economic and Structural change • Thatcher never won majority of votes cast • Very unpopular until 1983 Falklands war • Labour took first steps down road • Thatcher pragmatic – Thatcherism invented later by sociologists and political scientists? • New right principles influenced policies • However she had to take account of pro-welfare views in some areas - attack trade unions and poor, but not NHS ‘sacred cow’

5. Thatcher’s ‘political’ economy – shift power from labour to capital • Prioritise control of inflation: revoke 1944 White Paper • Allow unemployment rise – didn’t intervene to stop rise in oil pound • Hastened the deindustrialisation of UK: source of our current problem? • Privatised public utilities – create ‘popular capitalism’ • Attack on trade union power – • Defeat the miners: revenge for 1974

6. Examples of Thatcher’s Social Policy • Sweeping cuts in public expenditure • 1980 Promoted council house sales: property owning democracy or unsustainable boom? • 1980 • More conditional benefits – the Social Fund 1986, and Job Seekers Allowance 1976 • Revoked Rooker-Wise 1978 amendment 1980: uprate benefits in line with prices not earnings (major cause of child poverty) • Denied existence of ‘poverty’ – Households Below Average Income (HBAI) • Social Engineering – Incapacity Benefits late 80s onwards

7. Theoretical Underpinnings • Government should live within means - run the economy ‘like a household’ • Inflation the priority rather than employment • Too much public expenditure crowds out private investment: cause of economic decline • Cut taxes to put money in people’s pockets and let them choose • Prioritise wealth production over distribution: inequality good – ‘trickle down’ effect • Generous benefits cause poverty: underclass theory • Problem of NHS is inefficiency not underspending – managerial and market reforms

8. What Thatcher didn’t do • Eroded and restructured, but didn’t fundamentally dismantle welfare state • Didn’t introduce big cuts in Unemployment Benefit as proposed by right wing economists like Patrick Minford • Political concerns, riots of 1980s: used oil revenues and welfare state to push through Thatcherism • More conditionality - JSA • Didn’t Privatise the NHS • 1982 ‘The NHS is safe with us’: universal and used by middle classes • Managerial and market reforms 1990

9. Blair, Brown and the Third Way • Political: Lost 4 elections in a row – need to appeal to expanding m/class (in SE) than shrinking working class (in north)? • Economic: Reassure city and rich people in age of globalisation that Labour ‘party of business’ too • Practical: Couldn’t easily undo all the things Thatcher had done

10. New Labour’s Political Economy • Inherited a booming economy: 1st time for a Labour government • Took further deregulation: independence of the Bank of England and creation of Financial Services Authority (FSA) • Embraced globalisation: London and UK as a financial centre • South East Megalopolis, further deindustrialisation

11. New Labour Social Policy- Principles • Commission on Social Justice 1994 – for wealth rather than a poorer ‘leveller’s’ Britain • Giddens: Social Investment State (SIS): education and employability • ‘Modernisation’ of public services • ‘Welfare to work’ • Supply side support not just ‘laissez-faire’

12. Social Security and Poverty • Kept JSA and built New Deal for Employment on top, financed initially by windfall tax on privatised utilities • Compulsory workfare for unemployed, initially young people • Now extended to disabled and single parents, despite recession • Child Poverty targets: Tax credits and statutory minimum wage

13. Health Policy and NHS • Following Acheson Report 1998, targets health inequalities – sociologists won argument? • Aims bring worst up to average, not reduce inequality per se • NHS: ended GP fundholding, but kept the purchaser-provider split • Significantly increased funding from 6% to 9% GDP from 2000 • Also pursued ‘modernisation’, marketisation and choice • Janus-faced? combating and encouraging inequality

14. Successes and failures? • Lives of many people improved due to sustained boom and low prices of (Chinese) commodities • Inequalities remained wide and debts increased • Reduced child poverty but missed target – including latest budget • Only modest success in health inequalities • Unemployment kept low, but due mainly to boom • Forcing people into low paid work rather than improving jobs at the bottom? • Political economic strategy heightened Britain’s vulnerability • Heightened 2 nations Britain?

15. End of New Labour and New Conservatism • Collapse of the Thatcher-Blair consensus political economy strategy • Budget 50% tax on incomes (not wealth) of ‘rich’ and Cameron’s emphasis on ‘thrift’ • Revival of ‘class war’? But both will cut public spending • Rising costs of Ut and ageing population • More radical alternatives: Green New Deal, cut Trident, ID cards, third runway • Difficult but interesting times ahead for social policy students

16. ADVICE ON REVISION • Check rules for Honours and 1st level • Work from the assessed / class essay questions • Then work from the class discussion points • Don’t under or over-revise • Have a topic in reserve • Do timed questions and read them critically • Cite authors, statistics, dates, short quotes • Follow the sandwich model in the exam • Give your own perspective at the end • ABOVE ALL: Don’t spend more time on the first question than others • Be strong and don’t talk about the exam afterwards: