Great Depression in the United Kingdom

[1] Overall, while all these metrics were concerning to parliament and businessmen along with devastating industrial regions, the common person especially in areas around London did not experience major hardship and even prospered.

[2] Particularly hardest hit by economic problems were the industrial and mining areas in the north of England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.

Unemployment reached 70% in some areas at the start of the 1930s (with more than 3 million out of work nationally) and many families depended entirely on payments from local government known as the dole.

Heavy industries which formed the bedrock of Britain's export trade (such as coal mining, shipbuilding and steel) were heavily concentrated in certain areas of Britain, such as northern England, South Wales, Northern Ireland and central Scotland, while the newer industries were heavily concentrated in southern and central England.

To offset the effects of the high exchange rate, the export industries tried to cut costs by lowering workers' wages.

A. Hobson, and G. D. H. Cole repeated the dire warnings they had been making for years about the imminent death of capitalism, only now far more people paid attention.

[7] Starting in 1935 the Left Book Club provided a new warning every month, and built up the credibility of Soviet-style socialism as an alternative.

Under pressure from its Liberal allies as well as the Conservative opposition, the Labour government appointed a committee to review the state of public finances.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Snowden, insisted that the Report's recommendations be adopted to avoid incurring a budget deficit.

The political deadlock that resulted caused investors to take fright, and a flight of capital and gold further de-stabilised the economy.

In response, MacDonald, on the urging of King George V, decided to form a "National Government" with the Conservatives and the Liberals.

The 1931 general election resulted in a Conservative landslide victory, with the now leaderless Labour Party winning only 46 seats in Parliament.

These measures were deflationary and merely reduced purchasing power in the economy, worsening the situation, and by the end of 1931 unemployment had reached nearly 3 million.

The introduction of tariffs caused a split in the Liberal Party, some of whom, along with Phillip Snowden, withdrew support for the National Government.

Some parts of the country such as the South Wales Valleys experienced mass unemployment and poverty, while some areas in the Home Counties did not.

[15] Many suburban districts in London and other cities were built at this time, and Brighton shows many signs of more "high deco" home architecture.

Manufacturers such as Austin, Morris and Ford dominated the motor industry during the 1930s, and the number of cars on British roads doubled within the decade.

The north was the home to most of Britain's traditional heavy industries, such as coal mining in Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire, shipbuilding on Tyneside and Wearside, steel in Sheffield and textiles in Lancashire which were heavily export orientated.

Staple industries such as coal, steel and shipbuilding were smaller, less modern and efficient and over-staffed compared to continental rivals.

The north west, a centre of the textile industries, was also hard hit, with places such as Manchester and Lancashire suffering a slump.

The South Wales Valleys, a centre of the coal mining and steel industries, was also devastated by the depression where towns such as Merthyr Tydfil and Swansea had unemployment rates reaching above 25% at certain times.

A government report in the mid-1930s estimated that around 25% of the UK's population existed on a subsistence diet, often with signs of child malnutrition such as scurvy, rickets and tuberculosis.

In his book The Road to Wigan Pier, George Orwell described life for the unemployed in northern England during the depression: "Several hundred men risk their lives and several hundred women scrabble in the mud for hours... searching eagerly for tiny chips of coal in slagheaps so they could heat their own homes.

In effect, millions of workers who had been too poorly paid to make contributions, or who had been unemployed long term, were left destitute by the scheme.

In severely depressed parts of the country, the government enacted a number of policies to stimulate growth and reduce unemployment, including road building, loans to shipyards, and tariffs on steel imports.

The United Kingdom was able to recover more quickly than other countries that were equally as developed, because their economic growth had been stagnant for some time.

This drop in interests rates subsequently led to a boom in construction in the south of Britain; stimulating some renewed economic growth.

[17] By the end of the Second World War in 1945, the majority of the British people, and particularly the working class and returning servicemen and women, were keenly dissatisfied.

At the 1945 general election, to the surprise of most observers, Conservatives led by Winston Churchill were defeated by the Labour Party headed by Clement Attlee.

Throughout the 1970s, it was becoming clear from all sides that radical change was needed as a result of such economic crises as the 1973 oil shock, high inflation, industrial unrest and sterling devaluation.