ABSTRACT
The election campaign in 1945 revolved around a number of issues, but Britain's industrial future was certainly at the centre of debate. Labour was pessimistic about the state of industry, and therefore stressed the need for drastic measures. Civil service caution was founded upon the perception that the Working Party idea was provoking rather mixed comment in media and interest group circles. The Economist and the Financial Times generally welcomed Cripps's innovation, though each felt that the enquiries should have been given more of a co-ordinated focus. The legislation was designed to ‘provide methods for enabling private enterprise industries to bring themselves up to date’. But it was framed so that new initiatives would be introduced with the agreement of all sides and not, as in the past, at the whim of employers. Cripps generally welcomed these recommendations and took them to the Lord President's Committee, where they were accepted with very little comment.
