ABSTRACT
Economic policy is intimately linked to British foreign policy, but it is even more closely tied to social welfare policy. As with other types of policies, British socioeconomic policy faces new challenges in a changing environment. Relative economic decline poses problems for maintenance and growth of the welfare state. Slow growth, high unemployment, interrupted work histories that affect contributory benefits, and an increasing proportion of elderly and single-parent families make it difficult to improve benefit levels without incurring taxpayer resistance. The formal parliamentary institutions of the United Kingdom have changed little over the years, although there has been greater change in those institutions, such as local government and the civil service, that are not constitutionally grounded. In contrast, matters of executive flexibility, such as what departments and officials are in the cabinet or relations between cabinet ministers and the civil service, are not constitutional matters because they do not require parliamentary action.
