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Following significant electoral defeats in 2010, both the British Labour Party and the Swedish Social Democratic Party (SAP) have been re-considering their approach to the welfare state. This article outlines some of the key themes of social democracy and social democratic social policy before discussing the evolution of the latter in both Sweden and Britain. The paper explores the cumulative effect of the revisionist approaches adopted by both parties over time which has resulted in a distancing from a welfare state strategy based on equality, universalism and publicly provided services. It is concluded that both parties now have little road left to construct a modern welfare state narrative that reflects "core" social democratic principles.

This paper explores the diverse ways in which the Conservative Party has responded to the notion of progress in relation to social policy during its periods in government since the Second World War. It identifies three distinctive approaches – one nation progressive conservatism (1945–74), neo-liberal (anti-progressive) conservatism (1979–97) and progressive neo-liberal conservatism (2010–present), highlighting the dilemmas and difficulties the party has faced in engaging with a concept that it has always found to be problematic.

This article focuses on the development of David Cameron's Modern Conservative approach to poverty and social justice in the period since his election as Party leader in December 2005. It will be argued that the path that Cameron has followed in these areas reflects his determination to move the Conservative Party towards the political 'centre' in order to enhance its electoral prospects in the post-Thatcher era. In the concluding section of the article, the question of whether the 'Modern' Conservative approach to poverty and social justice can be said to represent a return to the Party's 'One Nation' approach is explored.

The major influence that New Democrat ideas and policies had on the repositioning of the Labour Party from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s, and its subsequent approach to welfare reform, has been underplayed within the field of social policy. As a consequence, New Labour's welfare 'revisionism' has come to be perceived more as a pragmatic adaptation to global economic and social change rather than as a politically driven imperative. This has resulted in limited critical engagement with the broader dimensions of New Labour's approach to 'welfare' reform.