Interwar poverty in Britain

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Interwar poverty in Britain describes poverty in Britain between the end of World War I In 1918 and the start of World War II in 1939.

After World War I Britain lost much of her overseas markets that had existed before the war. The economy initially boomed, but the Wall Street Crash was responsible for a world wide downturn in trade and led to the Great Depression. In June 1921, 2,000,000 people were out of work.

In 1926 the General Strike occurred and in 1936 the Jarrow Crusade march both highlighted the effect of the economic conditions on the British public.

[edit] Government response

Ramsay MacDonald and his Labour government struggled to cope with the problem of providing relief to million of unemployed. In 1929 a National Government was formed. This government cut the pay of workers in the state sector and cut the level of National Insurance benefits.

Means testing was introduced and the Unemployment Assistance Board was set up in 1934. Economic measures included the devaluation of the pound and taking Britain's currency off of the gold standard.

The Special Areas Act of 1934 attempted to inject finance into depressed areas and British industry was protected by protectionist measures such as state subsidies and import quotas.

[edit] Poor

In 1929 the Poor Law system was abolished as it was becoming replaced by unemployment insurance schemes.

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