Overview
The Attlee government created the National Health Service (1948) and nationalized key industries, while India’s independence in 1947 began rapid decolonization. Postwar immigration from the Commonwealth started reshaping British society.
Key developments
Britain joined the European Economic Community in 1973; Thatcher’s governments (1979–1990) privatized industry and broke with the postwar consensus; devolution created a Scottish Parliament and Welsh and Northern Irish assemblies in 1999 after the Good Friday Agreement (1998) calmed the Troubles.
End and transition
Elizabeth II reigned from 1952 until her death in 2022, when Charles III succeeded. The 2016 referendum took Britain out of the European Union (formally in 2020), the defining political rupture of recent decades.