Actually we have had an authoritarian state in this country before. And ironically it was Labour that time as well. 1945 - 1952 (ish, I may be wrong about when the Tories got into power in the early 50's).

Do some research on the Ministry of Food. Labour kept rationing in place after the second world war as a means to control the population. Despite, at the time, Britain being a net exporter of food. When the population actually had the gall to stand up to the government they cut the ration as "punishment".