Conclusions

Abstract

The last quarter century has seen substantial changes in both the focus and the conduct of economic policy in Britain. The form of the state itself has changed, and the physical controls of the economy have been gradually dismantled. First to go were the controls introduced in wartime over the allocation of raw materials and of finished goods for consumers (rationing). A whole series of financial controls was dismantled in 1971 and controls over the import and export of currency disappeared in 1979. The disappearance of the old command state was no accident: ‘Where it attempted to direct the economy it simply could not deliver the efficiency and adaptability needed in a world of increasingly global competition’ (Moran, 2000, p. 11). The other part of the Keynesian welfare state, the service delivery state, also came under challenge because of the perceived ‘failure of government to deliver public services efficiently and effectively’ (Loughlin and Scott, 1997, p. 207). The emphasis shifted from government directly providing services, to making arrangements for their provision, a shift accelerated under the second Blair government.