AHC: Have Britain and Germany swap places after 1945

How could Britain remain as Europe's dominant economic power after WW2? Leaving Germany to just catching on Britain's coat tails? I think such a scinario would be quite difficult, because you would probably need a low tax-low regulation Britain to foster a continous period of stable economic growth. Not the boom and bust growth that was seen throughout the 50s and 60s. A Tory or Liberal win (coalition perhaps) in 1945 could be a way, but this would require a substantial amount of revisions of Churchill's action's prior to the war. I think, overcoming the declinist British mindset, and the lack of drive and ambition in British indsustry, would be the main and hardest obstacles to overcome.
 
Avoid Sterling Convertibility for one.

Within a month, nations with sterling balances (e.g. pounds which they had earned from buying British exports, and which they were now permitted to sell to Britain in exchange for dollars) had drawn almost a billion dollars from British dollar reserves, forcing the British government to suspend convertibility and to begin immediate drastic cuts in domestic and overseas expenditure. The rapid loss of dollar reserves also highlighted the weakness of sterling, which was duly devalued in 1949 from $4.02 to $2.80.

By Blackfox5

In short, Britain consumed too much and invested too little. It also had some especially self-destructive and toxic leaders in the unions that harmed British industry.
Avoid nationalization of most industries. There may be a few - say railroads or the NHS - where government control could be justified, or at least not endanger the economy.

Abandon the pretense of being a great power at least temporarily. Britain cannot afford the expenditure and the results on its balance of payment. To get foreign currency to compensate temporarily, Britain did things that ate its seed corn and impaired its future economy.

Spend American aid to get new machine tooling and other capital plant like the Germans did instead of consumer goods or paying for overseas deployment (given British Cold War commitments, this will be hard to do). The aging capital tooling of British manufacture greatly impaired British quality and competitiveness once West Germany and others were rebuilt.

Prevent British unions from having so much political power. British firms were managed poorly as a result of so much union influence. Managers were making decisions based on politics (what the government wanted them to do) rather than the marketplace (reinvest in their industries to ensure future competitiveness). The industrial strife caused by British unions was just toxic.

Recognize the future is with Europe and not the Commonwealth. Join the ECSC (forerunner of the EU) early on. If they were original members, they'd be more likely to fashion EC policy in ways more favorable to it than waiting until 1973.
 

Thomas1195

Banned
Avoid Sterling Convertibility for one.

Within a month, nations with sterling balances (e.g. pounds which they had earned from buying British exports, and which they were now permitted to sell to Britain in exchange for dollars) had drawn almost a billion dollars from British dollar reserves, forcing the British government to suspend convertibility and to begin immediate drastic cuts in domestic and overseas expenditure. The rapid loss of dollar reserves also highlighted the weakness of sterling, which was duly devalued in 1949 from $4.02 to $2.80.
These policy changes are borderline ASB without political changes during the 1920s, especially the ECSC stuffs.

The Labour Party: well, we already know about that party. They (or the unions) also opposed entry into ECSC.

The Conservative Party: don't expect a bunch of "Dream of Empire" Imperialist nuts to cut back oversea commitments. They also had a chance to develop an economic cooperation with France under Eden (during the Suez crisis), but Eden rejected both (the first proposal was mad, but the second one, France joining the Commonwealth, was very feasible). It could have kicked off a British-led trade bloc.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franco-British_Union

The Liberal Party: no chance to govern without a pre-1924 POD.
 
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