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Iron and steel

A giant press in operation at the Vauxhall car factory in Luton, Bedfordshire in 1935.
A giant press in operation at the Vauxhall car factory in Luton, Bedfordshire in 1935.
©TopFoto

After the slump of the 1920s and the depression of the 1930s, the larger iron and steel industry companies were nationalised by Labour in 1951. However, the Conservatives then privatised most of the iron and steel industry in 1953; it was re-nationalised by Labour under the leadership of Harold Wilson in 1967.

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Further reading

  • Burk, K., The First Privatization: The Politicians, the City and the Denationalization of Steel (London: 1988)
  • Carr, J. & Taplin, W., A History of the British Steel Industry (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1962)
  • Millward, R. and Singelton, J., The Political Economy of Nationalisation in Britain,1920-1950 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995)
  • Owen, G., From Empire to Europe: The Decline and Revival of British Industry Since the Second World War (London: 1999)
  • Rooth, T., British Protectionism and the International Economy: Overseas Commercial Policy in the 1930s (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993)
  • Vaizey, J., The History of British Steel (London: 1974)
  • Wurm, C., Business, Politics and International Relations: Steel, Cotton and International Cartels in British Politics 1924-1939 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993)