1970 election

Question 1

what were the results of the election?

Answer 1

-conservatives won by 42 seats
-wilson was shocked

Question 1

why did wilson assume he would win?

Answer 1

-all polls suggested an inevitable labour win
-media were speculating that heath would be replaced as tory leader
-as 18 year olds could now vote, wilson assumed they would all vote labour as the legislation passed under him benefitted them the most

Question 2

reasons for labour’s loss - WC

Answer 2

-wilson’s complacency
-as wilson had a 51% approval rating and health’s was 28% he was fully confident he would win
-he was cocky during his campaign and felt his electionerring skills were superior
-poor trade figures of a deficit of £31mil were published the day before, which undermined wilson’s claim that the economy was improving
-he failed to enthuse the electorate

Question 3

reasons for labour’s loss - DOLS

Answer 3

-disillusionment of labour supporters
-labour membership decreased from 830,000 in 1964 to 680,000 in 1970
-many supporters were angry because they believed:
-not enough money had been spent on welfare
-working class had been made poorer
-gov. was no longer committed to socialism and the needs of the working class

-jenkins was criticised for the budget being focused on london, america and the markets
-many on the far left opposed EEC membership

Question 4

reasons for labour’s loss - FOIPOS

Answer 4

-failure of in place of strife
-it presented trade unions as more powerful than the gov.
-showed the gov. as failing to improve the nation’s economic performance
-alienated traditional supporters
-had upset the entire trade union movement
-trade union members were unlikely to vote labour again because they knew wilson would try to limit their power once more

Question 5

reason for conservative’s win - PP

Answer 5

-policy proposals
-new policies based on ‘a better future’
-industrial relations law would be reformed to reduce disruptive strikes
-less state intervention in industry
-britain would apply to join the EEC
-possible that many people who switched their vote to labour did so because they agreed with enoch powell’s stance on immigration

Question 6

reason for conservative’s win - HL

Answer 6

-heath’s leadership
-he attacked wilson’s economic performance during the campaign
-the press mostly agreed with heath and said he had leadership
-heath had successfully dealt with major challenges to authority e.g. sacking enoch powell in 1968
-the majority of tory MPs agreed with heath sacking powell
-heath was seen as hard working, conscientious and had an image of competence