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1970-79: Heath's government - Coggle Diagram
1970-79: Heath's government
Heath as leader
He aimed to modernise Britain.
First conservative state-educated prime minister
Conservative party
Viewed as stiff and not skilful in pleasing political allies.
Prime minister 1970 - 1974
Industrial relations
1974, 3 day week:
Imposed by Heath to conserve electricity in response to strikes by engineers, dockers and fire-fighter and threat of a national coal strike in the middle of an energy crisis. 50mph speed limit + TV ended at 10:30pm.
1972, major strikes:
miners, ambulance drivers, firefighters, power workers etc.
Industrial Relations Act:
introduced a cooling off period - very similar to Barbra Castles In Place Of Strife.
1972 saw the highest number of days lost in strikes since the 1926 General Strike.
The Miners' strike1972:
led by Arthur Scargill, it stopped the movement of coal around the country.This caused the gov to declare a state of emergency - schools were closed and 1.2 million workers were laid off.
1973, Oil Crisis:
led to another increased wage demand form the miners, the miners introduced an overtime ban to strengthen their demands.
Negotiations:
Heath got Willie Whitelaw, who was successful in negotiations in Northern Ireland to negotiate with the miners. This was unsuccessful as the miners rejected the pay offer.
1974, the NUM called a national strike, leading to the 3 day week.
1974 general election:
'who governs Britain?' election, led to a hung parliament as no party and an overall majority highlighting the political and economic crisis of 1974.
Northern Ireland
95% of those interned between 1971 and 1975 were Catholic - oppression of Catholics
1972, Bloody Sunday:
During protests against internment, British soldiers killed 13 unarmed citizens and shot 26.
1971, security measures e.g. nigh-time curfews + internment but this was ineffective and isolated nationalist communities.
Following Bloody Sunday, the British Embassy in Dublin was burned down.
In, 1970 the British Army was struggling to maintain peace and the political situation in Belfast was close to breaking.
1972, bloodiest year of the troubles - 1382 explosions and nearly 500 ppl killed.
1973, Sunningdale Agreement:
Whitelaw and Heath negotiated a complex plan for a power sharing government - extremists denounced the agreement.
Political + economic policies
Reforms:
school leaving age raised to 16, local Govs were reorganised + the currency went decimal.
Cuts to public spending + cuts to tax aimed to enocuagre investment but was unsuccessful.
Manifesto:
tax reforms, cuts to public spending, reforms to trade unions and end to public subsidy of 'lame duck' industries (industries that can't survive without support form the state).
Stagflation:
Inflation was not accompanied by economic growth + unemployment increased, this was 'stagflation'.
1973, Oil Crisis:
triggered by the Yom Kippur War, OPEC declared an oil embargo - exports stopped and the price of oil rocketed to 4x the usual levels.
U-Turn:
Rolls Royce was nationalised in 1971 and gov investment increased to prevent Upper Clyde Shipbuilders going bankrupt.
By 1973, the investment the gov and into modernising industry seems to be working - unemployment reached to 500,000 however this was reversed by the oil crisis.