<P> In the estimation of historians, and later politicians of the major parties, the most successful and permanent program was the creation of a National Health Service which started operations in 1947 . It entitled all citizens to healthcare, which, funded by taxation, was free at the point of delivery . The opposition from physicians was bought off by allowing them to keep lucrative private practices on the side . All hospitals were nationalized and brought into the system . John Carrier and Ian Kendall find that the mission for Minister of Health Aneurin Bevan was resolving "The potential conflict between the aim of providing a universalist, comprehensive health service of a good standard and that of containing health costs to a reasonable level, and how to finance the system in such a way that certainty and sufficiency of funds could be guaranteed ." Michael Foot adds that Bevan had to persuade "the most conservative and respected profession in the country to accept and operate the Labour government's most intrinsically socialist proposition . In the end historians give Bevan the major credit for the success . </P> <P> One of the main achievements of Attlee's government was the maintenance of near full employment . The government maintained most of the wartime controls over the economy, including control over the allocation of materials and manpower, and unemployment rarely rose above 500,000, or 3% of the total workforce . In fact labour shortages proved to be more of a problem . One area where the government was not quite as successful was in housing, which was also the responsibility of Aneurin Bevan . The government had a target to build 400,000 new houses a year to replace those which had been destroyed in the war, but shortages of materials and manpower meant that less than half this number were built . </P> <P> For decades the Conservatives were split on India between die - hard imperialists (led by Churchill) and moderate elements who tried to provide limited local control . Meanwhile, the small Labour minority in Parliament was sympathetic to the Congress movement led by Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharial Nehru . Decolonisation was never a major election issue; Labour was not officially in favour of decolonisation when it was elected in 1945 . With violence escalating in India after the war, but with British financial power at a low ebb, large - scale military involvement was impossible . The Viceroy of India warned he needed a further seven army divisions to prevent communal violence if independence negotiations failed . None were available, so political restructuring was accelerated . The Labour government gave independence to India and Pakistan in an unexpectedly quick move in 1947 . Historian and Conservative party sympathiser Andrew Roberts says the independence of India was a "national humiliation" but it was necessitated by urgent financial, administrative, strategic and political needs . Whereas Churchill in 1940 - 45 had tightened the hold on India and imprisoned the Congress leadership, Labour had looked forward to making it a fully independent dominion like Canada or Australia . Many of the Congress leaders in India had studied in England, and were highly regarded as fellow idealistic socialists by Labour leaders . Attlee was the Labour expert on India and took special charge of decolonization . Attlee found that Churchill's viceroy, Field Marshal Wavell, was too imperialistic, too keen on military solutions (he wanted seven more Army divisions) and too neglectful of Indian political alignments . The new Viceroy was Lord Mountbatten, the dashing war hero and a cousin of the King . The boundary between the newly created states of Pakistan and India involved the widespread resettlement of millions of Muslims and Hindus (and many Sikhs). Extreme violence ensued when Punjab and Bengal provinces were split . Historian Yasmin Khan estimates that between a half - million and a million men, women and children were killed . Gandhi himself was assassinated by a Hindu activist in January 1948 . </P> <P> Britain became a founding member of the United Nations during this time and of NATO in 1949 . Under foreign minister Ernest Bevin, Britain took a strong anti-Soviet position in the emerging Cold War . Cooperation with the United States was good, except in the area of nuclear weapons, where president Harry Truman ended cooperation . Britain had to develop its own nuclear arsenal, with the first test in 1952 . Mandatory military service continued, as despite the end of WWII, Britain continued to wage numerous small conflicts around the globe: the Malayan Emergency, 1948 - 1960, in Kenya against the Mau Mau Uprising (1952--60) and against Egypt in the 1956 Suez Crisis . </P>

Which party was in power in u.k. when india became independent