*On the cultural front*
Britain's legislation has become deeply authoritarian in many ways, though the target have changed. First, there is the astonishing rise in CCTV. I believe that Britain has more video surveillance than any other country. Then there are the innovations in legislation, like the Anti-Social Behaviour Order, and Community Safety Order, as well as the imposition of curfews against young people. Then there is the great increase is social services intervention in family life, with the great expansion of the 'at risk' register, and the powers of social workers to take children into care under the Childrens' Act 1990 (and subsequent)
In fact, since 1997, the Labour government has created a new crime every day - some 4,300. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article7061148.ece
So though it is true that the law on homosexuality has been liberalised, and with the introduction of civil partnerships and an equal age of consent, is close to equality, that has coincided with much greater regulation of other areas of private life.
*On the economic front*
Far from being the case that the government has pulled back from intervening in the economy, it has been doing so more and more.
My article 'State Capitalism in Britain' explains how the rhetoric of liberalisation coincides with a greater role for the state in propping up the private sector: http://www.metamute.org/en/content/state_capitalism_in_britain
Gavin Poynter's paper, here, explains that 'In contemporary Britain, un-dynamic corporate capital has become increasingly dependent upon the state' http://postrecession.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/bsaneolibstategp.pdf