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In 1900 Britain ruled the largest empire the world had yet seen, with the strongest navy and access to apparently unlimited resources. Through two world wars in the first half of the 20th century, the UK depended on food, equipment and manpower from its colonies. However, war and the rise of independence movements weakened Britain, and it lost most of its empire along with its status as a world superpower. One by one, countries in Asia, Africa and the Caribbean gained independence in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Many of these countries had remained underdeveloped under British rule, used as a source of raw materials.

During World War Two political leaders were determined not to repeat the depression and mass unemployment that followed World War One. The Beveridge Report, published in 1942, identified ‘five evils’ that should be eradicated:

• squalor
• ignorance
• want
• idleness
• disease

Beveridge argued that this needed a system of social welfare provided by the government. The new Labour government, elected in 1945, set up the National Health Service and a revised system of National Insurance.

After World War Two Britain needed workers to help rebuild its economy and keep its public services going. It asked people from its former colonies to come and work here to fill the labour gap. Many, facing unemployment at home, came and ended up staying.