Back to the 1950s: How UK faces a fall in living standards not seen since records began 70 years ago when post-war rationing finally finished... and Harold Macmillan insisted Britons 'had never had it so good'

 Harold Macmillan will forever be known as the Prime Minister who told his fellow countrymen that they had 'never had it so good'.

But Britons in the early 1950s were still living in the shadow of the Second World War.Rationing, which had been imposed in January 1940, did not fully end until 1954 – nine years after Germany had been defeated.

It meant that basic foods such as sugar, fat, meat, cheese, tinned goods and eggs continued to be in short supply in the early 1950s.

Britain's towns and cities were pockmarked by bombsites, millions of people lived in desperate poverty and many homes still not have bathrooms or toilets inside.

But from the mid-1950s onwards, there was ballooning prosperity, with wages rising, unemployment averaging less than two per cent and consumer goods such as televisions and fridges being widely adopted.

And whilst sky-high property prices are now a common feature of life in 21st century Britain, the housing market in the 1950s was much more stable, with homes costing an average of £2,000 – around £55,000 in today's money.

Now, modern Britons have been warned that the UK faces a drop in living standards that has not been seen since records began in 1956-7.

The cost-of-living crisis, driven by fuel and energy prices which were rising even before Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, will be exacerbated in April by the 1.25 percentage point hike in national insurance to fund the NHS and social care. 

Harold Macmillan will forever be known as the Prime Minister who told his fellow countrymen that they had 'never had it so good'

Britons in the early 1950s were still living in the shadow of the Second World War. Rationing, which had been imposed in January 1940, did not fully end until 1954 – nine years after Germany had been defeated. Pictured: Popular entertainer Tommy Steele is seen at home in Catford, south east London, with his mother in 1957

Back to the 1950s: How prices in 1955 compare with today. 2022 prices are taken from products found on Tesco online

The cost-of-living crisis, driven by fuel and energy prices which were rising even before Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, will be exacerbated in April by the 1.25 percentage point hike in national insurance to fund the NHS and social care.

The hard years of post-war austerity had been imposed due to the enormous debts racked up during the war.

The national debt had ballooned from £760million to £3,500million. Britain had spent a quarter of its national wealth on fighting Hitler.

One in three homes had been destroyed by bombing, while expensive loans from the U.S. were keeping the economy afloat.

Years of war had also ravaged the country's industry and left a legacy of high taxation.

Although the war had ended in 1945, rationing did not begin to be lifted until 1948, starting with flour in July of that year and clothes in March 1949. 

On May 19, 1950, rationing then ended for canned and dried fruit, chocolate biscuits, treacle, syrup, jellies and mincemeat. 

Petrol rationing, which had been imposed in 1939, ended in May 1950. This was followed by soap in September of that year. 

Then, in 1953, sugar and butter rationing ended before meat was the last to become freely available once again.

As the economy turned around and industry recovered, Britons saw their wages rise, while unemployment almost disappeared.

Average weekly wages increased from around £5 in 1950 to £9 in 1959. When accounting for inflation, these figures are £180 and £220 respectively - still far below the current weekly average earnings of £611. 

The Queen's coronation in 1953 also prompted millions of people to buy television sets so they could watch the ceremony.

From the mid-1950s onwards, there was ballooning prosperity, with wages rising, unemployment averaging less than two per cent and consumer goods such as televisions and fridges being widely adopted. Above: A British family in the 1950s

Fridges were still a luxury in the 1950s but were becoming more popular. By 1962, 33 percent of households had a fridge. Above: Two women admiring a fridge in a new home in Bristol

One in three homes had been destroyed by bombing, while expensive loans from the U.S. were keeping the economy afloat. Pictured: Uncleared debris from the war is seen in Liverpool

MP Bessie Braddock meeting residents in a Liverpool slum housing area in 1954. Mrs McGuiness and her young son Peter, aged 2, had to climb over demolition rubble to leave the back of their house, Liverpool, Merseyside

By 1953, some 25 per cent of Britons had a TV set. By 1959, this had increased to 75 per cent. 

Car ownership also increased after the war, with 32 per cent of households owning one by 1959. 

However, products that are now very cheap today were far more expensive in the 1950s. 

The cheapest car in 1950, the Ford Anglia, would have cost £310, meaning that the average Briton earning £5 a week would have had to have saved for well over a year before they had enough money to buy the vehicle. 

By contrast, the cheapest new car in the UK in 2022 - the Dacia Sandero at just over £10,000 - could be bought after around six months of saving the bulk of the average £24,000 salary. 

A more expensive car, such as the Humber Hawk, would have cost £840 in 1958, which is the equivalent of £21,000 now. It would have taken the average Briton more than two years to save up enough to buy one. 

A Black & Decker electric drill would have cost around £150 in 1958, whereas now tools of the same brand can be bought for as little as £40. 

Similarly, a Morphy Richards electric toaster cost £6 10s 9d (£153) in 1958, meaning it would have required 17 weeks for the average Briton saving all of their earnings to afford one.   

Consumer goods are so much cheaper now thanks in part to the globalisation of supply chains which has meant that products are made abroad by workers on low wages.  

Factories fitted with ultra-fast production lines that require minimal human intervention have also caused costs to plummet. 

Britons in the 1950s were able to afford goods such as fridges, washing machines, televisions and cars partly because of the burgeoning popularity of hire purchase - the system of credit that allowed people to 'buy' items and pay for them later in monthly installments. 

In the places where buildings had been destroyed by German bombs, tower blocks and shopping centres went up in their place.

The clearance of slums in deprived parts of cities including London and Liverpool was resumed after being paused during the war.

The rise of supermarkets also made shopping much easier.

For Britain's young people, they were able to enjoy new forms of music, such as American Rock'n'roll and musicians including Cliff Richard, Adam Faith and Tommy Steele were all the rage. 

The architect of Crawley new town in West Sussex was AG Sheppard Fidler, who also worked on Birmingham's 1950s comprehensive re-housing scheme. Located near Gatwick Airport, it now has more than 100,000 people living there

Rationing finally ended in 1954, allowing Britons to enjoy a full range of tinned, fresh and packaged goods. Supermarkets were also on the rise. Pictured: A woman at a checkout in the 1950s

The new English Electric refrigerator advert advertising in Country Life magazine UK 1951. Fridges are now in nearly every home but were once a luxury 

In April 1958, the Humber Hawk car would have cost Britons £840, which works out at nearly £21,000 in today's money

Car ownership also increased after the war, with 32 per cent of households owning one by 1959. Above: An Rover advert that featured in Country Life in 1951

Shops on the corner of Frith Street and Old Compton Street in Soho on March 19, 1956 - when shopping habits were changing

Britain's first full-length motorway, the M1, opened in 1959. Pictured: Cars are seen on the M1 in the year that it opened

Signs of optimism had been on show on the 1951 Festival of Britain, which was held on London's South Bank. 

Commemorating the Great Exhibition of 1851, the festival celebrated the country's achievements and was attended by nearly nine million people.

In the 1950s, home ownership was far less common than it is now, with only 8 per cent of Britons owning their own homes, compared to around 70 per cent today.

The housing shortage caused by the devastation in the war prompted the construction of hundreds millions of new homes.

It meant that in the ten years up to 1955, 1.5million homes had been built across the country.

An average house in 1959 cost 4.6 times the average annual income. Today, it is around 8.3 times.

This post-war redevelopment did also see vast swathes of Victorian and Georgian buildings torn down, so that council estates and office blocks could rise in their place.

The desire to demolish London's old buildings was driven in part by the then flourishing popularity of the style of Brutalist style of architecture.

Two of the key figures in the transformation of Birmingham - Sir Herbert Manzoni and A G Shepherd-Fidler - are seen studying a model of the new city in 1954. Thousands of Victorian and Georgian buildings were knocked down in the 1950s to make way for modern buildings

High-rise council flats are seen being built on the new Brandon Estate in Southwark, south London, in 1959. The desire to demolish London's old buildings was driven in part by the then flourishing popularity of the style of Brutalist style of architecture

The rise of supermarkets also made shopping much easier. Pictured: The interior of a Sainsbury's first ever self-service store

The most famous examples in the capital include the Barbican Centre, the listed high-rise apartment block Trellick Tower, the Brunswick Centre and the Hayward Gallery.

Socially, things were still difficult for many, with gay people people, immigrants, single mothers and divorcees often viewed as outcasts and treated cruelly as a result.

Divorces were far more difficult to procure before sweeping social in the 1960s and the introduction of the 1969 Divorce Reform Act.

There were 33,000 divorces in Britain in 1950, compared to more than 100,000 in 2020.

In his infamous speech, Macmillan had been speaking at a Tory rally in Bedford. 

While urging wage restraint and warning that inflation presented a big threat, he pointed to how increased production in major industries had led to a rise in wages, exports and investment. 

'Indeed let us be frank about it - most of our people have never had it so good,' he said. 

'Go around the country, go to the industrial towns, go to the farms and you will see a state of prosperity such as we have never had in my lifetime - nor indeed in the history of this country.'