The centrality of social policy in New Labour's development model

The aim of this article is to analyze the importance of social policies in the British development strategy during the New Labour government. The intention is to show that the conception of solidarity and social cohesion that marked the formation of the British Welfare State in Post-World War II was replaced by a vision where social policies were aimed at increasing competitiveness and expanding markets. This fact redefined the British social protection system shaped by Welfare to Work programs. The article aims to show the lack of connection between the discourse that focused on the labor market as the exclusivity locus of social welfare and the empirical evidence, which was concretely verified.

Development; Social policy; Labour market; United Kingdom; New Labour