Industrial Efficiency and State Intervention

 

 

 

Chapter 3

Debates and initiatives, 1944–5

 

 

 

Until 1944, public discussion of Britain's post-war industrial future was fairly muted.¹ During that year, however, and in the early months of 1945, this situation changed considerably, as many came to recognise the severity of the country's economic circumstances. All sides accepted that Britain would need to export well above the pre-war level once peace was declared, and that consequently home industry would have to become very much more efficient. But there was far less agreement when it came to proposing how exactly this latter objective should be attained. The Labour Party believed that Britain's plight was desperate — so stark that Morgan Phillips could declare before the 1945 election, ...