Part One - Developments in social policy

Summary

The twelve months since the publication of the previous volume of Social Policy Review have been politically momentous, presenting great challenges for us as editors of review. At the time that the previous volume was going to press it appeared that many of the big political questions had been settled – domestically at least – following the victory of David Cameron's Conservative Party at the 2015 general election. From a social policy perspective, a lengthy further period of public sector austerity was anticipated and, indeed, this was firmly signalled in George Osborne's eighth budget as Chancellor in March 2016, when an additional £3.5 billion of spending cuts by 2020 were announced, despite relatively positive projections for the economy (BBC News, 2016a).

Not many would have anticipated that, a few months later, neither Cameron or Osborne would be members of the government. However, the narrow victory for the ‘leave’ campaign in the June 2016 EU referendum turned much of UK political life on its head. As well as leading to a change in prime minster, with as yet largely unknown consequences for the Conservative Party's social policy agenda, the ‘Brexit’ vote has also resulted in deep debate about the UK's social and economic divisions. At the 2016 Social Policy Association (SPA) annual conference, which took place shortly after the referendum, an emergency plenary session was called to debate the issue; the then SPA Chair, Nick Ellison, convened this session and, in Chapter One, he explores the ‘whys and wherefores of Brexit’, examining not just the political roots of the referendum result but also its complex social and economic roots.

Upon becoming the UK's prime minister in July 2016, Theresa May acknowledged that economic and social policy was working inadequately for many in the UK, vowing to do more for the JAMs (the ‘just about managing’) and to govern as a ‘One Nation’ leader rather than for the ‘privileged few’ (BBC News, 2016b). In part this seemed to be an acknowledgement that some of the changes to the labour market and the tax and benefit system facilitated by the Cameron governments needed to be reassessed, though at the time of writing there were few concrete signs of what policy changes might be forthcoming.