Quote:
Originally Posted by TheDaddy
Not sure that's correct, Labour and the Tories used to compete on who could build the most council houses in the 60's I'd say Hugh has it pretty much spot on with his dates
|
Not at all - a defining issue at every general election since 1945 has been the welfare state. It was established by the Attlee Labour government elected in 1945 and every single election since then has seen one part or another of the welfare state as a major issue, the NHS most of all. Labour was elected in part on its warning that there were ‘24 hours to save the NHS’ in 1997. The welfare state fundamentally changed the way this country is administered. How much tax is collected and how it is spent is an entirely different question in government today than it was in 1939, because of decisions taken between 1945 and 1951.
The way the Tories and Labour have approached the NHS and the wider welfare state is fundamental to how those parties are understood by the electorate and so you cannot fully understand public attitudes to the parties unless you understand how their approaches to the NHS has become folklore - and the issues of folklore is very much implicit in Hugh’s original question.