Project overview
This project explores the long-term impact of New Labour’s social and economic policies on the life-courses of those born in the early-1990s and -2000s using the 1970, Next Steps and Millennium Cohort Studies. We will assess if these policies affected the familial, educational and economic contexts for these children, and the extent to which these policies shaped their attitudes, engagement in ‘anti-social behaviour’, offending, drug use, and their risk of becoming socially excluded.
The objective is to explore the ways in which a government’s social and economic agenda can shape the lives of those who grow up during it's tenure. We will conduct high-quality research providing evidence-based and theoretically-informed insights into the legacies of New Labour's social policies (such as the New Deal for Communities and Sure Start Centres). We will do this by using the datasets listed above, and the British Crime Survey/Crime Survey for England and Wales, and the British Social Attitudes Survey in order to locate these cohorts' experiences in a wider context and social and economic change.
Key contacts
- Research Fellow: Dr Hope Kent
- Research Fellow: Dr Phil Jones
Project objectives
Our objectives are to:
- Produce an assessment and ‘periodisation’ of the New Labour era, building on our periodisation the Thatcher era (Hay and Farrall, 2011, Farrall and Hay, 2010) and our theorising of the ways in which political legacies emerge (Farrall et al 2020c). We will assess key New Labour ideas, chart the use of these in policies and Acts of Parliament, and theorise the potential impacts these might have had on the life-courses of young British citizens.
- Undertake, with the help of Lord Blunkett, 20 elite interviews with key people associated with New Labour’s 1997-2010 administration.
- Collate and undertake analyses on the Next Steps and Millennium Cohorts, seeking to assess if/how New Labour's social policies altered their life-courses (via a comparison with the 1970 Birth Cohort).
- Contextualise the experiences of these three cohorts via analyses of repeat cross-sectional survey datasets such as the British Social Attitudes Survey (1983-present) and the British Crime Survey/Crime Survey for England & Wales (1982-present).
- With Justice Futures, develop an understanding of the complexity, blockages and opportunities across the various systems (social and criminal justice policy areas) so as to be able to feed into the recently-elected government's policy discussions.
- Write three Briefing Papers on the main findings of the project.
- With the CCJS, write and publish a synthesis of our main research findings to be published in hard and online versions towards the end of the project. This will summarise in a form accessible for informed-lay readers, policy makers and journalists the three Briefing Papers referred to above.
Research activities
We are preparing the data for analyses, and undertaking expert interviews.
Presentations
'Exploring the Individual-Level Effects of New LAbour's Social Policy Agenda on Crime Over the Life-Course: Outlining a Strategically-Paired Cohort Study', given by Professor Stephen Farrall on 12th February 2026. Watch on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J63qgKzr8TU.
Funding
This project was funded by the Leverhulme Trust
Partners
Centre for Crime & Justice Studies
Justice Futures
Key dates
March 2026 - February 2028
Stay in touch
Please email stephen.farrall@nottingham.ac.uk to be kept up to date with the project