Social Policy

Williams, B

Abstract

This chapter seeks to examine Neil Kinnock's approach to social policy during his nine-year stint as Labour Leader, incorporating two general elections, his own personal values, specific aspects and areas within this policy sphere, as well as analysing the party's broader messaging, image and narrative associated with it. The 1980s was a decade of mass unemployment, with jobless levels steadily rising from 1979 to peak at over 3 million by the mid-1980s, with many contemporary figures arguing that the actual level was much higher due to various changes in how the government calculated the data. Under Kinnock's leadership from 1983 onwards, Labour had to respond to some of the worst unemployment the country had experienced since 1930s; fuelled within the context of a sustained recession, deindustrialisation and emerging privatisation of key industries. In terms of housing policy, Kinnock inherited from Michael Foot the ongoing fallout from Margaret Thatcher's populist ‘right to buy’ policy that was rolled out from 1980 onwards.

Citation

Williams, B. (2022). Social Policy. In K. Hickson (Ed.), Neil Kinnock : Saving the Labour Party? (124-138). UK: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003254393-6

• Publication Date: May 19, 2022
• Deposit Date: May 23, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 20, 2024
• Publisher: Routledge
• Pages: 124-138
• Book Title: Neil Kinnock : Saving the Labour Party?
• ISBN: 9781032184135
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003254393-6
• Publisher URL: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003254393-14/social-policy-ben-williams
• Related Public URLs: https://www.routledge.com/Neil-Kinnock-Saving-the-Labour-Party/Hickson/p/book/9781032184135