In a burst of socialist legislation, Parliament passed a bill providing for the nationalization of the coal industry, a National Insurance Bill (consolidating existing schemes of social insurance and extending them to a larger section of the population), a National Health Service Bill (to make free medical services available to everyone) and a Cable and Wireless Act, nationalizing imperial communications.
Britain's export difficulties and a world shortage of wheat combined to necessitate bread rationing (a measure never taken during the war). This was followed by restrictions on most other staple foods.
