[1] Britain's staple industries (coal, iron, steel, shipbuilding, textiles) had provided most of her exports before the War and these were the hardest hit by the post-war depression.

The introduction claimed that the dichotomy between individualism and socialism was outdated in modern conditions, where public ownership had been extended and where private companies were becoming larger and more impersonal.

[7] It also contained proposals for controlling public and private enterprises; the latter would be required to publish their balance-sheets to aid investment and their directors would be answerable to employees and a Supervisory Council of Shareholders.

[9] Book IV ("National Development") drew its main recommendations from the ideas of Lloyd George, including the revival of agriculture and the reorganisation of the coal industry.

It argued that a large programme of public works would be necessary to deal with unemployment; this would include road-building, house-building, slum clearance, electrification, afforestation, drainage and the renovation of canals and docks.

[8] The Times, in an editorial titled "Common Ground", said that those "who possess the industry to read its 500 pages will find a well-written statement of a number of familiar problems, with some interesting, if rather vague, suggestions for meeting them".

It further claimed that if the discreet references to free trade in the Report were omitted, "the structure of the document is unaffected, and what is left bears no mark that is distinctively or recognizably Liberal".

[12] The Daily Dispatch denounced it as Communist and the Yorkshire Post said that the "Socialist will read the Report with glee; the true Liberal will grieve for the mutilation of his faith".

[15] John Campbell, writing in 1977, said that it "stands out today as the most far-sighted policy document produced by any party between the wars" and that "its philosophy so thoroughly permeated British political attitudes that most of its recommendations have come to seem commonplace".