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how much was heath able to change the country as set out in his manifesto …
how much was heath able to change the country as set out in his manifesto
Join the EEC
heath had made a application for Entry into the EEC and on the first of january 1973 britain became a member.
economic reform
Heath wanted to change the economy and encourage more private enterprise and reducing the role of the government in propping up 'lame duck industries'
in january 1970 before the general election the conservatives held a conference at selsdon park to approve the government's policy agenda
Tax reform
cuts to gov spending.
better law and order
trade union reform
Immmigration control
End of government subsidy to lame duck industries
however this was not a all out rejection of the post war consensus as heath was still a one nation tory.
Heaths chancellor,anthony barber initially introduced cuts to public spending as well as tax cuts to increase investment.
This was called the barber boom and inflation shot up without any economic growth and unemployment actually increased which was highly unusual and create the new phrase "stagflation"
during the earlier years unemployment began to approach 1 million and the government felt the need to act.
The prestigious car firm roll royce was partly nationalized to prevent it from bankruptcy.
Money was poured into upper clyde shipbuilders to prevent bankruptcy.
This was the famous U-turn
trade union reform
right from the start Heaths premiership was dogged with industrial disputes
docker strike.
A large settlement for dustmen
A 'go slow' by power workers.
postal worker strike.
in response to this the government brought in the industrial relation act which was very similar to barbara castles in place of strife.which included cooling of periods ,a industrial relations court and strike ballots.
however this was very unpopular with the unions as both the TUC (trade unions congress) annd CBI (confederation of british industry) opposed it.
Heath also abolished the national board for prices and income
this had been created by harold wilson in 1966 to oversee the national prices and income policy which sought to set prices and keep down inflation
Their where major strikes in 1972 by miners,ambulance drivers,firefighters ,civil servants,power workers,hospital staff and engine drivers.
1972 saw the most work days lost to strike action since the general strike of 1926-23,909,000
The 1972 miners strike began on the 9th of january 1972 during a freezing winter.the miners use of flying pickets,particularly in yorkshire where highly effective and led by arthur scargill they effectively stopped the movement of coal around the country.
by the 9th of febuary the goverment had declared a state if emergency and 1.2 million wokres where layed off as well as schools closed.
The wilberforce committee was set up to examine the miners demands and announce the three day work week.it came down on the side of the miners and the NUM leader joe gormley was able to negotiate a genoeurs wage settlement.
flying pickets involved moving workers around to picket different locations particularly coke distributors which crippled the uk's power system.
in the uk's largest distributor,saltley in birgham a huge body of strikers including other workers striking in solidarity picketed the station and where able to get it closed.
Heath returned to the policy of trying to manage wage demands with the passing of the industry act in 1972 which aimed to involved the government,the CBI and TUC in agreeing prices,wages and benefits
In 1973 OPEC declared a oil embargo which led to the price of oil increasing 4 fold
the oil crisis led to another demand from the miners which was far above what the government would accept in order to keep inflation down.
the miners introduced a overtime ban to put pressure on the government while heath moved willie whitelaw from the northern ireland office to tminster of employment as he was considered a skilled negotiator.
the government refused to treat the miners as a special case and in january 1974 the NUM called a national strike.
heath imposed a three day work week to conserve energy in response to a wave of industrial action by engineers,dockers and firefighters as well as the looming coal strike.
modernise the country
As heath had been in opposition since 1965 he had laid out clear plans for how to modernise the country.
In 1971 the currency was decimalised to make finances easier with their being 100 pennies in a pound instead of 144.
School Leaving age was raised to 16
Local government was re-organised
However the government was forced to u-turn and increased government intervention.
by 1963 the investment that the government had made into modernisation seemed to be working as unemployment fell to 500,000 but this was shattered by the 1973 oil crisis.
by the end of heaths premiership the three day work week had been implemented and people where working by candlelight,the very opposite of modernisation.
board of prices and incomes was abolished.
was cretade by wilson in order to control inflation by involving the government in setting prices and wages.
trade union where reformed with the industrial relations act but this made the trade unions more militant.