ABSTRACT
In 1951, the Conservative Party promised to build a minimum of 300,000 houses a year in Britain (England and Wales). During the period 1951-61, this figure was exceeded once in 1954 when 308,952 houses were completed. The equivalent Scottish figure for that year was 38,653 completions, which was not a particularly impressive figure and certainly not one to excite party political propagandists. The achievement by the Conservatives in England and Wales was loudly proclaimed in Parliament and widely reported in the popular press. This figure compared very favourably with the best performance of the previous Labour administration with 206,405 completions in 1948.
