Going from memory but this is an artifact of WW2. There was a copper shortage so they decided to save on wiring costs by running only a few high current circuit

Going from memory but this is an artifact of WW2. There was a copper shortage so they decided to save on wiring costs by running only a few high current circuits through the whole house. The appliance plugs are instead fused as any fault in the appliance would happen after the plug. This is why UK plugs are all fused - they are the final branch circuit over current protection device. I actually like the idea.