Trends in British Public Policy: Do Governments Make Any Difference?

This book sets out to examine the effects of governments on society since the war. It presents tables and graphs mapping levels of expenditure, employment and legislative activity of the various administrations, and examines these in the light of social, economic and demographic trends in the UK and in Europe. The book contends that the way in which social and economic trends are presented by politicians and addressed in manifestos bears only a casual relation to what is actually going on in the country.