Topic 3: Heath's government (1970-74) Flashcards
5
Describe the promises of Heath’s government in 1970
- A break with interventionist policies
- Market solutions would be sought
- Legal reform of trade unions to bring them under control
- Taxpayer money would no longer be spent on helping ‘lame duck’ industries
- The rejection of compulsory wage control
6
List notable figures in Heath’s cabinet
- Ian MacLeod (CX) died 1 month after appointment
- Relatively unknown Anthony Barber (CX) who succeeded him
- Douglas-Home (FS)
- Maulding (HS)
- John Davies (trade and industry)
- Thatcher (Edu) - only woman in cabinet
2
Describe Heath’s personality
- ‘Wooden’
- Nicknamed the ‘grocer’ for working class background
4
Describe initial economic policies under Heath
- March 1971 budget
- ‘Competition and Credit Control’
- High growth
- Decimilisation in 1971
4
Describe the March 1971 Budget
- Replace purchase tax with VAT
- Relaxed exchange controls
- Both prerequisites for EEC membership
- Reduction of direct taxes -> led to high levels of economic growth and low unemployment
Purchase tax - tax on luxury goods
VAT - tax placed on product at each stage of production when value is added
Exchange controls - controls imposed by govt on purchase/sale of foreign currencies
2
Describe the liberalisation of the banking system under Heath
- Under title ‘Competition and Credit control’
- led to high lending and increase in money supply
3
Describe decimilisation 1971
- Agreed in 1965 under Wilson
- Previously 144p in £1
- Brought in line with other European currencies
6
Describe the problems the economy faced 1970-73
- Increasingly powerful trade unions
- Inflation had rose from 5% in 1969 to 10% by mid-1971
- Productivity remained low - growth rate decreased from 2.5% (1969) to 1.7% (1971)
- Record balance of payments surplus of £1bn in 1971 -> deficit of £1 billion in 1973
- Unemployment reached 1m in 1972
- Stagflation
3
Describe initial inflationary policies under Heath/Barber
- Abolished Price and Incomes Board
- Reduced standard rate income tax
- Signalled age of intervention was over
2
Describe initial deflationary policies under Heath/Barber
- Cuts in subsidies to council house rents and school milk expenditure (Thatcher ‘milk snatcher’)
- Signalled age of intervention was over
2
Describe nationalisation U-turns 1970-1974
- Rolls Royce nationalised in 1971 - major car manufacturer and symbolic of global status
- Upper Cylde Shipbuilders nationalised in 1971 after threat of unemployment
6
Describe the 1972 Barber Boom
- March 1972 budget cut taxes and inc public expenditure
- Dubbed ‘last Kenesian fling’ in Treasury
- Barber Boom pushed up growth rate to 7.4% by 1973
- Contravened Heath’s pledge to solve inflation
- Voluntary wage control was impossible to maintain in face of inflation
- Heath forced into an economic u-turn
1
Describe the cause of 1972 economic policy u-turn
- By Summer 1972, Heath had failed to secure trade union co-operation on wage restraint and anti-inflation measures
3
Describe the policies of the 1972-73 economic u-turn
- 90 day freeze of pay and prices
- Creation of Prices Commission and Pay Board to control inflation (Counter-Inflation Act 1973)
- Government had introduced own statuory incomes policy -> complete abandonment of Selsdon Man
4
Describe the floating of the pound in 1972
- Pound overvalued
- ‘temporary measure’
- Currency set by supply and demand rather than fixed rate
- Pound immediatley plunged in markets
2
What were the unemployment in figures in early 1972 and 1973 respectively?
1m
500k
3
Describe the causes of the 1973 Oil Price Crisis
- Yom Kippur War
- War prompted OPEC to declare oil emabrgo at nations percieved to be supporting Israel (inc UK and US)
- Oil exports suddenly stopped
OPEC - club of Arab oil nations
5
Describe the effects of the 1973 Oil Price Crisis
- Price of oil increases to 4x usual levels (reached $12 by end of crisis)
- Severe shortages of fuel for industry and petrol for transport
- £1 fell to $1.50
- Imports became more expensive - huge deficits
- Inflation grew to 16% by 1974
4
List industrial disputes when Heath came to office in 1970
- dockers strike
- large pay settlement for dustmen
- postal workers’ strike
- ‘go-slow’ by power workers which led to power cuts
5
Describe the Industrial Relations Act 1971
- Very similiar to In Place of Strife - Labour still opposed bill in August 1971
- Had abolished National Board for Prices and Incomes in 1970
- Agreements between employers and workers were to be legally enforceable
- Closed shop was to be banned
- Industrial Court was set up to try cases
4
Describe the failure of the Industrial Relations Act 1971
- Public standing of unions at highest level in 3 years at time of act passage
- TUC exploited legal loophole - if union refused to register they would remain beyond the reach of the new Industrial Court
- Immense political capital wasted
- Industrial Court had virtually no business as employers were fearful of consequences to labour relations
2
Describe the Pentonvile Five 1972
- 5 shop stewards arrested in London Docks in 1972 after threatening to provoke paralysing strike
- Political deadlock led to release
Shop stewards - employees who were also union representatives
3
Outline industrial relations in 1972
- Returned to policy of trying to manage wage demands through 1972 industry act
- 23m working days lost to strikes in 1972
- Highest since General Strike of 1926
3
Describe the 1972 industry act
- Involved Government, TUC, CBI
- Would agree wages, prices, etc
- policy criticised by Powell and right-wing MPs
5
Describe the causes of the 1972 miner’s strike
first miner’s strike
- National Coal Board had cut jobs from 700k (1957) to 300k (1972)
- Miners wages were increasing much less than all other industrial workers
- Moderate NUM President Joe Gormley under pressure from younger militants like Arthur Scargill of Yorkshire miners
- Gormley secured a 14% miners wage increase in 1971 but then lodged for a bigger claim in 1972
- 8% pay offer in winter 1971-72 rejected
NUM - National Union of Miners
6
Describe the 1972 miner’s strike
- Began in January 1972
- Considered miners ‘could not possibly win’
- ‘Flying pickets’ soon cut off the movement of coal to power stations
- 1972 Battle of Saltley Gate
- 1.2m workers laid off
- Wilberforce committee set up to examine demands and came out in favour of miners
2
Describe the Battle of Saltley Gate 1972
- Birmingham
- Mass picketing blockaded distribution of tens of thousands of coke fuel
3
Describe Heath’s response to the 1972 miner’s strike
- Declared State of Emergency
- Rationed electricity
- (Enforced 3 day week?)
2
Describe the results of the 1972 Miners’ Strike
- Settlement worth between 17-24% negotiated by NUM President Joe Gormley
- Another u-turn for Heath’s government
4
Describe the causes of the 1973 Miners Strike
Second Miner’s Strike
- Yom Kippur War -> high inflation and deficit rose from £1bn in 1973 to £3bn in 1974
- Coal became cheap energy source overnight due to spike in price of oil
- November 1973, Pay Board offered the miners a 13% rise to counter rising dissatisfaction with the pay freeze
- NUM even refused to ballot its members and rejected the offer and imposed an overtime ban
3
Described Heath’s response to the 1973 Miners’ Strike
- Drafted in Whitelaw from NI Sec to Employment Sec - unable to break impasse
- Three Day Week
- Snap election
2
Describe the 3 day week
- December 1973, imposed three day week for british industry
- Despite predicitions, 1st quarter of 1974 saw manufacturing production at 95% of normal (blow to unions)
2
Describe Heath’s decision to call a snap election
- At 11th hour, TUC pledged that other unions would not exploit a prospective special settlement with miners -> Heath rebuffed offer
- Heath called snap election in where Conservatives relished confrontation with unions
4
Give a summary of declining industrial relations
- Became more militant
- Use of more radical tactics like flying pickets
- Informed by dissaproval of Conservative government
- Reaction to long-term industrial change, particularly in coal industry
2
Describe Heath’s progressive Sex Discrimination policies
- Attachment of Earnings Act 1971 - husband liable for financial maintenance
- Guardianship of Minors Act 1971 - women had joint responsibility with men over upbringing of children
3
Describe Heath’s social services policy
- Large increase in education budget (e.g. raised school leaving age to 16 in 1972, salvaged Open University)
- Increases to health, agricultural, environmental budgets
- Added to inflationary pressure before Yom-Kippur War
4
Describe race relations under Heath
- Powellism became influential in 1970s
- Intertwined with ascension to Common Market (freedom of movement)
- Immigration Act 1971 acted as successor to 1968 legislation
- Race relations hampered with looming recession
5
Describe the Immigration Act 1971
- passed in 1971, operative from 1973
- Unrestricted entry for those with patrial status
- Elaborated on patriality, defining it as those who have lived in UK for at least 5 years
- Entry for non-patrial citizens dependent on visa
- Thus all non-patrial Commonwealth citizens who sought UK employment reduced to status of contract labourer
patrial - British citizen (or substantial connections)
6
Describe Heath’s policy towards Ugandan Asians
- Triggered when Uganda’s eccentric dictator Idi Amin in 1972 announced he had a dream which instructed him to give all Ugandan Asians 3 months to emigrate
- Under 1968 quota, 3k were allowed to enter Britain in any one year
- Government set up Ugandan resettlement board using military caps as holding centres
- Linked with volunteer groups which helped find immigrants homes
- 28.5k Ugandan Asians arrived
- 30k new jobs created in Leicester -> became model-city for multi-ethnic integration
6
Describe the situation in Northern Ireland in 1970
- Growing sectarian clashes between Catholics and Protestants
- July 1970, army shot dead Catholic teenager during North Belfast riot
- At first, Heath backed UUP leader Brian Faulkner, who led Belfast Govt
- Operated under system of FPTP with political gerrymandering
- Faulkner went along with night-time curfews and internment
- 30k people and 4k shipyard workers marched in Belfast to demand internment in 1971
5
Describe Home Secretary Maudling’s policies towards Northern Ireland
- Curb growing power of IRA
- Night-time curfews introduced
- August 1971, introduced internment without trial
- 95% of those interned between 1971-1975 were Catholics
- Jim McVeigh (IRA Commander) is quoted saying internment was ‘among the best recruiting tools the IRA ever had’
4
Describe Bloody Sunday 1972
- 30th January 1972, Catholic Bogside area of Londonderry
- Triggered by effective ban on civil rights march
- Led to violent clashes with troops of Parachute Regiment
- 13 catholics died
4
Describe the effects of Bloody Sunday 1972
- British Embassy in Dublin was burned down
- Support for the IRA grew as did funding from America
- Grew from small force to mass organisation
- 1972 marked bloodiest year for troubles (1382 explosions, 10k shootings, 480 deaths)
6
Describe direct rule from Westminster
- March 1972 (6 weeks after Bloody Sunday), Heath suspended Stormont Government
- Replaced by direct rule from Westminster with Whitelaw as NI Secretary
- 200k Ulster Vanguard Movement members staged 2-day strike to protest abolition of Stormont
- Situation continued to polarise with ‘security forces’ (British troops) detested by Catholics
- IRA escalated campaign and carried out random civillian attakcs
- Reinforced ungovernability in Ulster
6
Describe the provisions of the Sunningdale Government
- December 1973, Whitelaw secretly negotiated power sharing agreement
- Both nationalists and unionists guaranteed representation
- catholics had role in govt for first time since 1920s!
- New 78-member NI Assembly with system of PR
- A Council of Ireland, with input from ROI executive, would have consultative role
- British govt would retain control over law and order, finance
5
Describe the opposition to the Sunningdale Agreement
- Basic social and economic problems of Catholic minority had not been addressed
- Extremists on both sides denounced agreement
- UVF and UDA opposed
- UUP pulled out in Jan 1974
- Prospect of settlement undermined by second miners strike and Feb 1974 elec campaign on mainland Britain
UVF - Ulster Volunteer Force
UDA - Ulster Defence Association
3
Describe the 1973 Northern Ireland Assembly elections
- Pro-agreement parties won clear majority (52 to 26)
- UUP split into pro and anti white paper parties
- Faulkner replaced as UUP leader by hardline anti-agreement Harry West
4
Describe the 1974 general election in Northern Ireland
- UUUC (UUP, DUP, VUPP) formed electoral pact to field a single anti-Sunningdale candidate in each constituency
- pro-Sunningdale supporters (Faulkner’s supporters, SDLP, Alliance, NI Lab party) fielded candidates against each other
- 11/12 constituencies returned anti-Sunningdale candidates
- agreement dispute meant Con could not rely on UUP in hung parliament
2
Describe reform of local government under Heath
- Local Government Act 1972 abolished historic counties like Rutland and imposed new boundaries like Cleveland
- Housing minister Peter Walker refused partisan gerrymandering, as had been pleaded by CCO (Conservative Central Office)
3
Describe Death and Scandals under Heath
- Death of Tory heavyweight Ian Macleod in 1970 proved devastating blow
- Most senior figure, Home Sec Maulding, forced to resign in mid-1972 after his corrupt involvement with jailed architect, John Poulson
- Enoch Powell became fierce critic of govt
3
List heath’s successes and failures
general summary card
Successes:
- EEC entry
- Raising school leaving age to 16
- Dealing with stagflation (Barber Boom)
Failures:
- Northern Ireland policies
- Industrial relations
- Nationalisations and backtracking on Selsdon Park
- Economic failures (deficit, inflation, unemployment)
5
Describe Labour in opposition (1970-74)
- Wilson seemed inert figure
- Membership decline paved way for radical groups to influence local constituencies
- ‘Militant’ - Trotskyite faction
- Divide between left and right
- ‘Social Contract’
4
Describe the left in Labour opposition (1970-74)
- Selsdon Man economic policy pushed party to left
- Spurred by union leader such as Hugh Scanion, who was highly critical of 1964-70
- Further divide between uncompromising ‘old left’ (e.g. Benn) and ‘soft left’ (e.g. Foot)
- Benn sought plan to nationalise 25 of top 100 companies (accepted by NEC by one-vote majority)
2
Describe the right in Labour opposition (1970-74)
- Crossland attacked first Wilson adminsitration for failing to regenerate economy in Socialism Now (1974)
- Jenkins and Williams isolated over defence, Europe and incomes policy
4
Describe the ‘social contract’
- Wilson negotiated it with Vic Feather, TUC General Secretary
- Repeal of 1971 Industrial Relations Act, food subsidies, and a freeze on rent increases
- In return, TUC members would cooperate with a programme of voluntary wage restraint
- Would ensure Benn’s plan to nationalise 25 major companies were not included in the manifesto
3
Describe the February 1974 election campaign
- Conservative support stricken by militant unions and barren economy
- Labour’s ‘Let us work together’ manifesto contained just 10 pages
- Denounced as half-baked by Crossland
4
Describe the February 1974 election results
- Liberal increase in support to 19%, up 12 points
- Liberals had won series of by-elections amid strikes
- Led by Jeremy Thrope
- Hung Parliament: Lab 301, Con 297
2
Describe the February 1974 election aftermath
- Heath’s offer to extend coalition to Liberals failed
- Wilson governed from minority govt
What were diplock courts?
Non-jury courts to prevent intimidation by IRA
3
Describe the 1973 border poll
- 99% support for remaining in U.K.
- boycott by nationalists
- yet 59% turnout demonstrated majority unionist support
