HEATH 1970-4 CHAPTER 9 Flashcards
political/econ
1970 GENERAL ELECTION RESULTS
CONSERVATIVES
LABOUR
LIBERAL
seats and votes?
SEATS % OF VOTES
CONSERVATIVES 330 44.6
LABOUR 287 43.0
LIBERAL6 7.5
1973
3 things happened
OPEC oil crisis
British entry to the EEC
Miners’ strike and imposition of the three-day week
HEATH AS LEADER
- Was the first leader to have been elected for leadership and had been educated at state schools different from the
who dominated cons party?
old Etonians who had previously dominated the conservatives.
HEATH AS LEADER
- Had already been leader of opposition for 5 years -
this meant he was
- Well prepared spent his time in opposition developing detailed policies on economic modernisation and industrial relations.
HEATH AS LEADER
After the economic and industrial problems of 1970-4, several backbenchers forced a leadership contest
who replaced heath?
thatcher emerged as the key challenger and defeated Heath at the leadership election in 1975.
POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC POLICIES
- Before the 1970 election, conservatives held a conference at Selsdon Park to approve a policy programme which formed the base of the election manifesto
what was it?
tax reform, better law and order, reforms to trade unions, immigration controls, cuts to public spending, and ending the public subsidy of lame duck industries (unable to compete and survive without the state).
POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC POLICIES
- Heath still believed in .
2 old thingz
one nation conservatism and the post war consensus
POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC POLICIES
- Reforms ??
3
school leaving age raised to 16, government reorganised, British currency decimalised (the new currency had 100 pence rather than 144).
POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC POLICIES
- Chancellor Barber introduced cuts in public spending and tax cuts to encourage investment Barber boom began with a rapid rise of ???
what was the problem
inflation, but this was not accompanied with economic growth – unemployment went up and led to stagflation (describes the unusual combination of inflation and stagnant economic growth -produced unemployment- occurring at the same time.
POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC POLICIES
- Unemployment near a million - government nationalised
which companies?? this was known as what
Rolls Royce and poured money to prevent Upper Clyde Shipbuilders going bankrupt – this was the famous U-turn (reversal of a previous policy; retreat from free enterprise economic policies and reducing state intervention)
POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC POLICIES
- 1973 – unemployment fell back to
whta? what did it mean
500,000 the investment the government made into modernising the economy seemed to be working.
POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC POLICIES
- October 1973 Yom Kippur War in the middle east prompted OPEC (agreed to fix levels of production to prevent prices from falling too low) to declare
what and what effect did this have
an oil embargo – exports suddenly stopped, price oil rocketed to up to 4 times the usual levels.
- November 1973 the national union of miners (NUM) demanded
a huge pay rise.
INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS AND THE MINERS’ STRIKE
- Dockers strike, large pay settlement for dustmen, postal workers’ strike the government brought in the
what act? what did it do
Industrial Relations Act and Heath abolished the National Board for prices and incomes.
* The Act set up an Industrial Relations Court and provided for strike ballots and a cooling off period before official strikes could begin.
INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS AND THE MINERS’ STRIKE
- 1972 major strikes:
by who
miners, ambulance drivers, firefighters, civil servants, power workers etc.