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In 2024, following years of austerity, political instability and external shocks including Brexit, COVID-19 and the cost-of-living crisis, Keir Starmer’s Labour Party was voted into power in the UK. This book is the first in-depth analysis of Starmer’s government from a social policy perspective.
Through expert chapters covering broad themes such as public expenditure, public opinion and devolution, and substantive areas including children and families, health, education, housing, social security, immigration, climate change and criminal justice, the book situates Labour’s approach within a comparative framework of political traditions.
An invaluable text for anyone studying or teaching social and public policy, this book offers a rigorous, accessible foundation for understanding the ideas and constraints shaping contemporary social welfare in the United Kingdom.
Hugh Bochel is Emeritus Professor of Public Policy in the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Lincoln.
Martin Powell is Professor Emeritus of Health and Social Policy at the Health Services Management Centre, University of Birmingham.
1. Introduction: Labour's Return to Power - Hugh Bochel and Martin Powell
2. Labour and Public Expenditure – Nick Ellison
3. The Labour Government, Public Opinion and Social Policy - Andrew Defty
4. Labour, Climate Change and the Net-Zero Agenda - Carolyn Snell
5. The Governance of Social Policy Under Labour - Hugh Bochel
6. Fit for the Future? The NHS Under Labour - Martin Powell
7. Plus Ça Change: Labour, Education and the Three ‘Faces’ of the State - Patrick Bailey, Bronwen Jones and Stephen J Ball
8. Labour Housing Policy in England - Peter Somerville
9. Repairing the Safety Net? Social Security Under Labour - Sharon Wright, Steve McKay and Karen Rowlingson
10. Making Work Pay? Labour Market and Employment Policies - Anne Daguerre and David Etherington
11. Migration and Asylum Under Labour - Nando Sigona
12. It Depends What You Mean by ‘National’, It Depends What You Mean by ‘Care’ and It Depends What You Mean by a ‘Service’ – Adult Social Care Under Labour - Jon Glasby
13. Social Policy, Children and Families: Continuity and Change - Harriet Churchill, Ros Edwards and Val Gillies
14. Labour and Criminal Justice: Legacies, Wicked Issues and Events - Peter Squires
15. Labour and Equalities: Addressing Gender, Disability and Racial Inequality - Kirstein Rummery
16. Devolution and Social Policy - Ann Marie Gray
17. Conclusions - Hugh Bochel and Martin Powell