The Labour Government and Social Policy

1. Auflage 2026
ISBN: 978-1-4473-7869-3
Verlag: Bristol University Press

Buch, Englisch, 320 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm

In 2024, following years of austerity, political instability and external shocks including Brexit, COVID-19 and the cost-of-living crisis, the Labour Party was voted into power in the UK. This book is the first in-depth analysis of the Labour 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.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Bochel, Hugh

Powell, Martin

Weitere Mitwirkende

Ball, Stephen J.

Bailey, Patrick

Churchill, Harriet

Cutler, Sara

Daguerre, Anne

Defty, Andrew

Edwards, Rosalind

Ellison, Nick

Etherington, David

Glasby, Jon

Gray, Ann Marie

Jones, Bronwen

McKay, Stephen D.

Rowlingson, Karen

Rummery, Kirstein

Sigona, Nando

Snell, Carolyn

Somerville, Peter

Squires, Peter

Wright, Sharon

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Systeme Politische Parteien
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Systeme Verwaltungswissenschaft, Öffentliche Verwaltung
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziale Arbeit/Sozialpädagogik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

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

Über Autor(innen)

Rowlingson, Karen
Karen Rowlingson is Professor of Social Policy and Director of the Centre on Household Assets and Savings Management (CHASM) at the University of Birmingham. Her research interests include personal finance and inequality.

Daguerre, Anne
Anne Daguerre is Associate Professor in Work Employment and Welfare, Business School, Middlesex University, London, and an alumna of the Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars, Washington DC.

Wright, Sharon
Sharon Wright is Professor of Social Policy at the University of Glasgow.

Snell, Carolyn
Reader in Social Policy, University of York

Rummery, Kirstein
Kirstein Rummery is Professor of Social Policy at the University of Stirling, the co-director of the Centre on Gender and Feminist Studies and a senior fellow of the Centre on Constitutional Change.

Glasby, Jon
Jon Glasby is Professor of Health and Social Care and Head of the School of Social Policy, University of Birmingham. A qualified social worker by background, he has been a board member of the Social Care Institute for Excellence, is NHS Non-Executive Director and sits on the Board of Birmingham Children’s Trust.

Powell, Martin
Martin Powell is a Professor of Health and Social Policy at the University of Birmingham. Martin’s main research interest is in the British welfare state, especially the NHS. He has written or edited some 19 books, including some being translated into Chinese, Korean, and Polish. He has written over 80 peer reviewed articles, and he is a former editor of the journal ‘Social Policy and Administration’.

Ball, Stephen J.
Stephen J Ball is Distinguished Service Professor of Sociology of Education at the University College London, Institute of Education. He was elected Fellow of the British Academy in 2006; and is also Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences; and Society of Educational Studies, and a Laureate of Kappa Delta Phi; he has honorary doctorates from the Universities of Turku (Finland), and Leicester. He is co-founder and Managing Editor of the Journal of Education Policy. His main areas of interest are in sociologically informed education policy analysis and the relationships between education, education policy and social class. He has written 20 books and had published over 140 journal articles. Recent books: Edu.Net (Routledge 2017) and Foucault as Educator (Springer 2017).

Gray, Ann Marie
Ann Marie Gray is Professor of Social Policy at Ulster University and Co-Director of ARK.

Bochel, Hugh
Hugh Bochel is Emeritus Professor of Public Policy in the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Lincoln.

Edwards, Rosalind
Rosalind Edwards is Professor of Sociology at the University of Southampton, where she is also Social Sciences Director of Research and a Co-Director of the ESRC National Centre for Research Methods.

Sigona, Nando
Nando Sigona is Professor of International Migration and Forced Displacement and Director of the Institute for Research into Superdiversity at the University of Birmingham. His research interests include undocumented migration, child and youth mobility and camps and urban diversity.

McKay, Stephen D.
Stephen McKay is Professor of Social Research in the School of Social Policy at the University of Birmingham. He has particular expertise in the secondary analysis of complex datasets in relation to, social security, inequality and wealth.

Ellison, Nick
Nick Ellison is Senior Lecturer and Head of Department of the Department of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Durham.

Etherington, David
David Etherington is Professor of Local and Regional Economic Development at Staffordshire University. His research focuses on the political economy of welfare reform and employment relations in the UK and Nordic countries.

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.