Chapter 10: Labour governments of Wilson and Callaghan Flashcards
How did Wilson come back into power in 1974?
heath failed to make a coalition with the liberals so Wilson was able to form a minority government
- however this meant labour had to rely on other parties to get legislation through parliament
What was the economic situation like when Wilson came back into power in 1974?
- inflation was at 15%
- ## balance of payments defecit was at £3 billion
What was the result of the October 1974 election?
Wilson won a majority - labour gained 18 seats and tories lost 21 seats
- overall majority was just three
What was Wilsons social contract ?
- voluntary pay restraint by trade unions in exchange for the removal of Heaths industrial act
- agreement was reacher with NUM - end to state of emergency and three day week
How did Chancellor Denis Healey deal with rising inflation in 1975?
large rises in taxation and cuts in public spending
Who took over from Wilson after his resignation in 1976?
Callaghan - seen as an ideal leader to maintain party unity due to his long experience and good links to trade unions
How did Callaghan tackle the problems of unemployment and inflation?
applied for an IMF loan - £3 billion - government had to make big spending cuts in return - critisised by both labour and conservatives - viewed as humiliating
What was the economic situation like in 1978?
unemployment and numer of days lost to strikes (9.28 million days compared to 14.75 in 1974) had started to fall
What was the winter of discontent and what caused it?
1978 - TUC rejected the 5% wage increase limit - encouraged trade unions to put in higher demands
- industrial action caused disruption to public transport and pubic sector work
- scale was not as bad as the miners strikes of 1974
- march 1979 - average pay increase achieved was 10% - but the public mood had been damaged
Why did Callaghan lose the 1979 election?
- poor economic situation - reputation of trade unions was damaged - winter of discontent dominated the media
- government lost a no confidence vote on the issue of Scottish devolution
- Tory majority of 43s
What was the Ulster workers council strike?
- strike aimed to bring down the executive - limited power and telecommunications - state of emergency was declared
- Faulkner resigned as chief executive of the power sharing agreement
- Wilson is forced to impose direct rule and the power sharing agreement collapsed
What was the result of the july 1975 elections in Northern Ireland?
majority for unionists who were opposed to any form of power sharing - Northern Ireland constitution convention was dissolved in 1976
What was the impact of the decision to remove special category status from terrorist prisoners in 1976?
No longer considered political prisoners and would be treated as criminals - disliked by paramilitaries
INLA and IRA prisoners lead a blanket protest - naked or only wearing blackets
- escalated to a dirty protest - Republican prisoners accused prison guards of ill treatment and refused to leave their cells
- 1979 - over 250 prisoners took part in the protests
