The end of post war consensus 1970-1979: Political + Economic Flashcards
Who was the Conservative prime minister and what were the dates of his rule?
Heath (1970-1974)
Who were the Labour prime ministers and what were the dates of their reign?
Harold Wilson (1974-1976)
Callaghan (1976-1979)
What were Heath’s strengths as prime minister?
- Had experience (leader of Conservative party since 1965)
- Won 1970 election around clear policies of reform (industrial and economic modernisation)
- He was a europhile
What were Heath’s weaknesses as prime minister?
- Not popular with party and public
- Lost 1966 and 1974 election
- Struggled with industrial conflict and economic problems
- Defeated by Thatcher in 1975
When did Britain enter the EEC and who was it under?
- 1973
- Heath
Who replaced Heath as leader of the Conservative party and when was it?
- Thatcher
- 1965
What did Heath believe in?
- One nation toryism
- Post war consensus
What were some of the reforms under Heath?
- School leaving age raised to 16
- Local government was reorganised
- British currency went decimal
What did Heath’s chancellor, Barber, do?
- Introduced cuts in public spending
- Introduced tax cuts to encourage investment
- Rapid rise in inflation
- Named the barber boom
What is stagflation?
The unusual combination of inflation and economic growth
What was the Conservative parties U-turn?
- Unemployment began to edge towards 1 million, government had to take action despite wanting to reduce state intervention in industry
- Engineering firm Rolls Royce was nationalised in 1971
- Government money was used to prevent upper clyde shipbuilders going bankrupt
By 1973 what had unemployment fallen to?
500,000
What was the oil crisis and when was it?
- 1973
- Triggered by Yom Kippur war
- War prompted OPEC to declare an oil embargo
- Exports stopped, oil prices quadrupled, long queues formed outside petrol stations
- Led to the NUM demanding a huge pay rise
What were some of the industrial disputes that Heath had to deal with?
- Docker’s strike
- Large pay settlement for dustmen
- Postal workers strike
- ‘Go slow’ by power workers which led to power cuts
How did the government respond to industrial disputes?
Brought in the Industrial Relations Act- set up an Industrial Relations court and provided for strike ballots and a ‘cooling off’ period before official strikes could begin (TUC and CBI opposed it)
What were the major strikes in 1972?
- Miners
- Ambulance drivers
- Firefighters
- Civil servants
- Power workers
- Hospital staff
- Engine drivers
How many days were lost due to strikes in 1972?
23,909,000 (highest since General Strike of 1926)
When was the Industry Act passed and what did it aim to do?
- 1972
- Aimed to involve the government, TUC and CBI in agreeing wage prices, investment and benefits
- Heavily criticised by the right wing of the Conservative party
When did the NUM call a national strike?
1974
What was the 3 day week?
- Imposed in 1974 to conserve electricity in response to a wave of industrial action by engineers, dockers, firefighters
- Fuel was rationed
- Cuts made to lighting and heating
- TV turned off at 10:30pm
- Many industries were forced to lay off workers
What was Bloody Sunday and when was it?
- 1972
- Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association organised a march to protest against internment
- Attempts to control the march resulted in British soldiers firing live ammunition
- 26 unarmed civilians were shot and 13 were killed
What was burnt down in Dublin following Bloody Sunday?
The British embassy
What were all of the Irish troubles in 1972?
- 1382 explosions
- 10,628 shooting incidents
- 480 people killed
When was the Sunningdale agreement negotiated and what was it?
- 1973
Proposed:
1. A power sharing executive of nationalists and unionists
2. New Northern Ireland assembly elected under a system of proportional representation
3. Council of Ireland that would have some input from the Republic of Ireland
What was the economic situation when Wilson came to power in 1974?
- Inflation was at 15%
- Balance of payment deficit was £3 billion
- Trade unions needed to be dealt with
What did Wilson negotiate in 1973 and who was it with?
- The social contract with the TUC
- Trade unions were sent a clear message that the government wasn’t looking for any confrontations
- Agreement was quickly reached with the NUM, allowing Wilson to end the state of emergency and 3 day week
What did Wilson’s chancellor, Healey, do to try improve the economy?
In 1975 Healey’s budget imposed:
1. Steep rises in taxation
2. Public spending cuts
When was the National Enterprise Board set up and what did it do?
- 1974
- Created to administer the government’s share holdings in private companies
- Could also give financial aid
- Overall aim was to increase investment
What was the IMF loan situation?
- Callaghan had to request a loan of £3 billion from the IMF due to the government running out of money
- Callaghan handled this well and recovered the economy by using the loan to control inflation and invest it in production which increased exports and decreased unemployment
- In 1978 there was a 13% wage increase whereas in 1979 there was an 18% wage increase
- reinforced the image of Britain being in economic decline
- The left wing of the Labour Party saw it as a betrayal
- Led to Conservative opposition
What was the economic situation like by 1978?
- Improved a lot
- 9 oilfields in production
- Inflation fell to 10%
- Unemployment was still at 1.6 million but was falling
- The number of days lost due to industrial disputes had fallen to a 10 year low
What did Callaghan create in 1977 and why?
- The Lib lab pact
- Because the Labour majority had disappeared, so Callaghan needed to strengthen the government
- Made the government able to defeat a vote of no confidence from the Conservative party
- Led to the 1978 devolution act in Scotland and Wales which opened the way for referendums
When was the winter of discontent and what was it?
- 1978
- TUC rejected the Labour governments proposed wage increase limit of 5%
- Encouraged trade unions to put in higher demands
- Ford lorry drivers achieved a 15% increase after a 9 week strike
- Led to disruption in transport through lorry and train driver strikes
- Hospital porters, dustmen and grave diggers also striked
- Disputes were brought to an end in 1979 and the average pay increase achieved was 10%
- Led to Britain’s economic situation deteriorating
- Resulted in many beginning to consider Conservative
- Labour government lost a vote of no confidence in 1979 and were forced to resign (1st time this happened since 1924)
- Images of the winter of discontent dominated the media
What were some of the events involving the IRA between 1970-1974?
- By 1971, both IRA factions were targeting the British army. In response, the Northern Ireland government introduced internment without trial (imprisoned over 2000 people)
- Loyalist groups were proliferated with many Protestant neighbourhoods setting up paramilitary and vigilante groups (largest was the ulster defence association and ulster volunteer force- by 1972 both were killing significant numbers of catholic civilians)
- 1972 Bloody Sunday- 14 marchers against internment were shot dead by the British army
- Provisional IRA upped their campaign to a greater intensity, killing over 100 British soldiers on Bloody Friday, where 9 civilians were killed and 130 were injured by car bombs
- Undercover unit, MRF, carried out random catholic assassinations and were responsible for 10 deaths
- Between 1974 and 1976 loyalist paramilitaries killed over 370 catholic civilians
