ABSTRACT

This chapter analyses the post-war development of Labour and Conservative agricultural policies and assesses the utility of models of party competition in explaining the course which policies took. Post-war Labour Party agricultural policy was conditioned by three factors. Briefly these were, first, Labour’s campaign to win rural seats which had begun in the mid 1930s and continued after World War II, and which was regarded by the party as a success. Secondly, the crisis in agriculture in the inter-war years and the resultant rural poverty convinced the party that full, planned production was essential. Thirdly, the imposition of agricultural controls and guarantees in both World Wars highlighted the benefits of planned agricultural production. With the failure of Britain’s EEC negotiations and the formation of the European Free Trade Association it appeared that the defenders of the status quo had successfully resisted pressures for change.