Labour shortages and the cost of living are back as big issues for the first time in years.

There are predictions that the biggest pay squeeze in decades is imminent.

So in this new three-part series for BBC Radio 4, documentary-maker Phil Tinline traces the ups and downs of the politics of pay in Britain since 1945. How did we get here? And what can our history tell us about where we might now be heading?

As Britain entered the new millennium, with low inflation and steady growth, all seemed well. But in this final episode, Phil traces how the impact of the Crash in 2008 laid the ground for a decade of flat-lining pay and productivity, amid political shocks and crises, culminating in Covid.

Does the post-pandemic cheering of 'key workers' - along with the furlough scheme - point towards a future of greater state intervention? Ministers from the PM down have called for a higher pay, high productivity economy in the wake of Brexit. But currently, prices are outstripping pay. Does that mean that more radical action will be needed to ease the cost of living?

Series contributors include: Kate Bell, Margaret Beckett, Neil Carberry, John Edmonds, Stuart Hill, Linda Hoffman, Gavin Kelly, Tara Martin Lopez, Lucy Neville-Rolfe, Rain Newton-Smith, Michael Portillo, Dominic Sandbrook, Stefan Stern, Selina Todd, Norman Tebbit, Nick Timothy

Producer/ Presenter: Phil Tinline Show less