Post-war consensus

The post-war consensus, sometimes called the post-war compromise, was the economic order and social model of which the major political parties in post-war Britain shared a consensus supporting view, from the end of World War II in 1945 to the late-1970s. It ended during the governance of Conservative Party leader Margaret Thatcher. The consensus tolerated or encouraged nationalisation, strong trade unions, heavy regulation, high taxes, and an extensive welfare state.^[1]

The notion of a post-war consensus covered support for a coherent package of policies that was developed in the 1930s and promised during the Second World War, focused on a mixed economy, Keynesianism, and a broad welfare state.^[2] Historians have debated the timing of the weakening and collapse of the consensus, including whether it ended before Thatcherism arrived in 1979.^[3] They also suggest that the notion might not have been as widely supported as some claim, and that the word 'consensus' might be inaccurate to describe the period.