Labour under Kinnock

Question 1

when did Kinnock become Labour leader?

Answer 1

after Labour’s landslide defeat in the 1983 election

Question 2

what were Militant Tendency?

Answer 2

-a faction within Labour
-they had 5,000 members and 140 paid staff (more than the liberals)
-they were far-left and Trotskyist
-they alienated moderate Labour MPs
-Kinnock called them a ‘maggot’ within Labour

Question 3

who controlled Liverpool Council in the 1980s?

Answer 3

Militant Tendency

Question 4

what did the Tories cut between 1979 and 1983, and how did Liverpool council respond?

Answer 4

-they cut funding to local councils, meaning that councils had to either make cuts to services or increase rates (council tax)
-Liverpool council set a budget which only included moderate increase in rates and no cuts to services (‘better to break the law than break the poor’)
-Tories gave the council an additional £20mil to avoid bankruptcy

Question 5

what did the Tories introduce in 1984 and how did Liverpool council respond?

Answer 5

-they introduced ‘rate capping’ (making it illegal for a council to set a rate higher than the government mandated)
-Liverpool council passed am illegal budget in June 1985 in which spending exceeding income by £30mil
-the central gov. refused to fund this deficit, and demanded that Liverpool cut costs

Question 6

what was the Militant response to the gov.’s demand to cut costs?

Answer 6

-they didn’t back down
-Liverpool councillors were advised that the council was about to break its legal obligations and wouldn’t be able to pay wages by the end of the year
-in response the council leader sent out redundancy notices to 31,000 council staff

Question 7

what was Labour’s response to Militant tendency refusing to back down?

Answer 7

-in his conference speech in October 1985, Kinnock expelled Militant Tendency from the party