Most of our people have never had it so good (Macmillan) To what extent is this true for the years 1951-1964?

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Liz Binding

History: “Most of our people have never had it so good” (Macmillan) To what extent is this true for the years 1951-1964?

Macmillan made an optimistic speech in (July) 1957 in which he quoted how “most of our people have never had it so good basically when the country was ‘riding high’ on post war economic boom; the economy was benefiting from increased production in major industries such as coal and steel; the only industries notably affected negatively by unrest were ship-building, mining and the docks which only employed 7% of the population. It can be argued however, that Macmillan stating “ never had it so good” was just his way of painting a rosy picture of the economy as oppose to actually being accurate as many people were victims of things such as tensions for example in and out of the workplace.

  The initial growth of optimism had begun in the late 1950’s under the Conservative Macmillan administration. An explosion in technology combined with a number of generous budgets, had provoked a reckless surge of growth, seemingly leaving the people more prosperous and with more things to spend their new found wealth on. A consequent rise in living standards led Harold Macmillan or ‘SuperMac’ as he was fashionably known then, to declare that Britain had simply “Never had it so good. In his speech he told supporters “ Go around the country, go to industrial towns, go to the farms and you will see a state of prosperity such as we have never had before”. This could be true in regards to things such as social, economic and political factors especially considering things such as rationing had ended and there was full employment during one period which in turn increased the purchase of consumer goods such as TV’s, refrigerators and cars which were being produced in the UK.

Firstly in regards to the economy, Macmillan was lucky to be voted in during the age of affluence where 60% of people made it into the middle class due to post war. It was a time where, compared to the austerity of the war years, wage , exports and investments were all up for example wage rose by 72% ( which has positive effects on economy eg spending on consumer goods) This suggests how people really hadn’t had it “so good” as people had more money to spend on things they didn’t have before especially considering the rise in consumer goods.

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Despite the boom however, there were still concerns about inflation and the dilemma to maintain growth and employment. it has been argued: "The key factor in the Conservative victory was that average real pay for industrial workers had risen since Churchill’s 1951 victory by over 20 per cent. In the period 1951 to 1964 there was uninterrupted full employment with productivity faster than any other period in the century. Total production increased 40 per cent, real average earnings increased 30 per cent. Car consumption increased from 2 to 8 million whilst television saw a rise from 1 to 13 million. MacMillan ...

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