Heath's Government, 1970-1974 (AQA A Level History: Component 2: Depth study): Revision Note

Edward Heath as leader

Edward Heath. Photo by Allan Warren, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Background and route to power

• Heath came from a modest background and rose through ability rather than family connections

  • He was the son of a carpenter and a maid

  • He won a scholarship to Oxford University

  • He served as an army officer during the Second World War

• In 1965, Heath became the first Conservative leader elected by ballot of MPs

  • Previous leaders had been chosen through consultation within the party leadership

• He led the Conservatives to an unexpected victory in June 1970

  • The majority of opinion polls and commentators had predicted a Labour win

Heath's political outlook

• Heath wanted to modernise Britain and improve economic efficiency

• He strongly supported British membership of the EEC

• He also remained committed to:

  • one-nation conservatism

  • full employment

• These beliefs did not always fit easily together

  • Free market policies could increase unemployment

  • Heath later changed course when unemployment and industrial problems grew

Heath's record, 1970–1974

• Heath took Britain into the EEC in January 1973

  • He regarded this as one of his government's main achievements

• He abandoned his original economic strategy during the U-turn of 1972

• His government faced major disputes with the trade unions

  • Miners' strikes took place in 1972 and 1974

• Heath called the February 1974 election around the question, "Who governs Britain?"

  • The Conservatives did not win an overall majority

Heath's strengths and weaknesses

Political and economic policies

The Selsdon Park Programme

• In January 1970, the Conservative shadow Cabinet met at Selsdon Park to agree its election programme

  • It promised:

    • tax reform

    • cuts to spending

    • immigration controls

    • trade union reform

    • an end to support for 'lame duck industries'

• Harold Wilson called the proposals 'Selsdon Man'

  • He used the phrase to present them as a return to harsh free-market policies

• The programme did not completely reject the post-war consensus

  • Heath still accepted full employment as an important government aim

  • He remained a one-nation Conservative

Trade union reform

• The Industrial Relations Act (1971) was the government's main attempt to reform industrial relations

  • Trade unions had to register to keep their legal protections

  • A National Industrial Relations Court was created

  • The Act allowed strike ballots and a cooling-off period before official strikes

• The Trades Union Congress (TUC) and Confederation of British Industry (CBI) both opposed the Act

• Trade unions refused to cooperate with the new system

  • Many unions would not register or recognise the court

  • Unofficial strikes organised by local shop stewards continued

• The Act failed to reduce industrial conflict

  • It was later repealed after Labour returned to government in 1974

Barber and the economy

• Chancellor Anthony Barber initially introduced cuts to public spending

• In 1972 he changed direction

  • Tax cuts and higher government spending encouraged rapid economic growth

    • This became known as the 'Barber Boom'

• Economic growth was accompanied by rising prices

  • Industrial output did not increase quickly enough to meet demand

• Unemployment and inflation rose at the same time

  • Unemployment reached one million during the winter of 1971–1972

  • Economists used the term 'stagflation' for the combination of inflation and stagnant economic growth

Other domestic policies

• His government introduced several other reforms

  • The school-leaving age was raised to 16 in 1972

  • Local government was reorganised

  • Britain introduced decimal currency in 1971

The 'u-turn' of 1972

Why did the government change course?

• Rising unemployment made the policy of refusing to help 'lame duck' industries difficult to maintain

  • Unemployment reached one million, its highest level since the 1930s

  • Heath's commitment to full employment became more important than maintaining a consistent free market policy

Support for failing industries

• The government used public money to support companies it had previously said should be allowed to fail

  • Rolls-Royce was nationalised in 1971 after the aero-engine company collapsed

  • A work-in at the Upper Clyde Shipbuilders in 1971 placed pressure on the government to provide financial support rather than allow the yards to close

A return to government intervention

• The Industry Act (1972) gave ministers powers to give direct financial support to industry

  • It aimed to bring the government, the TUC and the CBI together to discuss wages, prices, investment and benefits

• The government also introduced legal controls over wages

  • This replaced the earlier promise to allow wages to be decided by the market

  • Enoch Powell and other Conservatives on the right criticised the change

• By 1973, the new approach appeared to be producing some results

  • Unemployment had fallen to 500,000

  • Investment in modernising industry had increased

Approach: This speech was delivered the same year as the U-turn. He was speaking to party members who might have seen the change in policy as a retreat from the Selsdon Park programme. Heath stressed that the government was still carrying out its election promises and presenting the changes as part of the fight against inflation

The source is therefore useful for showing how he defended the U-turn to his own party, although he had a clear reason to downplay how far government policy had changed

Industrial relations and the Miners' Strikes

Growing industrial unrest

• Heath faced industrial disputes from the beginning of his government

  • Early disputes involved dockers, refuse collectors and power workers

    • Their actions led to power cuts

  • Further strikes in 1971 involved ambulance drivers, firefighters, civil servants, power workers, hospital staff and train drivers

• In 1972, around 23,909,000 working days were lost through strikes

  • This was the highest total since the General Strike of 1926

The miners' strike of 1972

• The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) began a national strike over pay on the 9th January 1972

  • The strike took place during a period of severe winter weather

• Flying pickets, organised in Yorkshire by Arthur Scargill, stopped coal moving around the country

  • On 10th February 1972, mass picketing closed the Saltley coke depot in Birmingham, a key victory for the miners

  • Power stations and coal depots were targeted

    • This placed pressure on the national energy supply during the harsh winter

• The government declared a state of emergency on the 9th February 1972

  • Schools closed due to a lack of heating

  • Around 1.2 million workers were laid off

• The government eventually accepted the miners' case

  • The Wilberforce Committee found that their pay claim was justified

  • NUM leader Joe Gormley negotiated a substantial settlement

• The strike revealed divisions within the NUM

  • Gormley represented its more moderate leadership

  • Scargill supported more militant tactics, such as flying pickets

Approach: As a leading Yorkshire miner and supporter of militant tactics, he presented the dispute as a deliberate struggle against the government rather than simply a pay claim.

This source is useful for showing the aims of the NUM's militant wing, but it does not represent all miners, especially moderates such as Joe Gormley

The road to the second strike

• The 1973 oil crisis strengthened the miners' bargaining position

  • The Yom Kippur War in October led the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to restrict oil exports and increase prices

  • Coal became more important as an alternative source of energy

• The NUM submitted a large pay claim in November 1973

  • The demand exceeded the limits set by the government's incomes policy

  • Miners also introduced an overtime ban, reducing coal supplies

• Heath moved Willie Whitelaw from the Northern Ireland Office to the Department of Employment in December 1973

  • Heath chose Whitelaw because he was seen as a skilled negotiator

  • He was expected to help settle the dispute with the miners

• The talks failed

  • The miners rejected the government's offer

  • Heath refused to treat them as a special case

  • The NUM balloted its members, and a national strike began in February 1974

The ‘Troubles’ in Northern Ireland and the Sunningdale Agreement

What did Heath inherit?

• Heath took office in 1970 as violence in Northern Ireland continued to increase

  • Sectarian conflict was spreading

  • The British Army was struggling to maintain order

  • The Stormont government was under growing pressure

• Paramilitary organisations operated on both sides

  • The Provisional Irish Republican Army (Provisional IRA) was republican

  • The Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) were loyalist

Approach: Its religious and political language presents loyalist communities as being under attack and calls on Protestants to organise for their defence. It is useful for showing how the UDA justified recruitment, but it was written to persuade people to join and does not provide a neutral account of the violence

Internment and Bloody Sunday

• Heath initially supported the Unionist government led by Brian Faulkner

  • The Conservative and Unionist Party had close links with the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP)

  • Heath agreed to night-time curfews and the introduction of internment in 1971

• Internment increased nationalist opposition

  • 95% of those interned between 1971 and 1975 were Catholic

  • Republicans later described internment as one of the IRA's most effective recruiting tools

• On the 30th January 1972, British soldiers opened fire during a civil rights march against internment in Derry

  • 26 unarmed civilians were shot

  • 13 died on the day

  • The event became known as 'Bloody Sunday'

• The Widgery Tribunal reported in April 1972 that the army had acted in self-defence

  • Its findings were widely rejected by nationalists

  • The Saville Inquiry, set up by Tony Blair, reported in 2010 that none of those shot had posed a threat; Prime Minister David Cameron called the killings "unjustified and unjustifiable"

    • The British government issued an apology

• Following Bloody Sunday, the British Embassy in Dublin was burned down

  • The IRA gained support and were able to raise significant funds in the United States

• Violence continued to rise during 1972

  • Northern Ireland experienced:

    • 1,382 explosions

    • 10,628 shooting incidents

    • Around 480 deaths

Approach: It is important to note that this recollection was recorded around 20 years later. However, his account is useful for showing how Republicans remembered the march and the anger caused by the shooting.

However, he had a reason to defend the marchers and criticised the army, so his testimony should be compared with other eyewitness accounts and official inquiries

Direct rule and the search for a settlement

• Heath suspended the Stormont parliament in March 1972

  • Direct rule from Westminster was introduced

  • Willie Whitelaw became Secretary of State for Northern Ireland

• Heath looked for a political solution as well as a security one

  • He wanted an agreement that both communities could accept

  • Talks with the Northern Irish parties led to the Sunningdale Agreement in December 1973

• Sunningdale created two new institutions:

  • a power-sharing executive in which unionists and nationalists governed together

  • a Council of Ireland linking Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland

Unionist opposition to Sunningdale

• Opposition began soon after the agreement

  • Ian Paisley's DUP, the UVF and the UDA described it as a sell-out

  • The proposed Council of Ireland was seen by opponents as a step towards a united Ireland

• The UUP withdrew its support

  • It voted against the agreement in January 1974

  • Faulkner was replaced as party leader by Harry West

• The February 1974 election weakened support for Sunningdale

  • Anti-Sunningdale parties agreed to run a single candidate in each constituency

  • Pro-agreement votes were divided

  • 11 of Northern Ireland's 12 seats were won by candidates opposed to the agreement

• The power-sharing executive survived until May 1974

The three-day week & the February 1974 election

The three-day week

• Heath introduced the three-day week on the 1st January 1974, to reduce electricity use during the miners' overtime ban

  • Commercial users were limited to three days of electricity each week

  • Petrol ration coupons were issued, although rationing was never introduced

  • A 50 mph speed limit was introduced on all roads

  • Television broadcasts ended at 10:30 pm

• The effects were uneven

  • Many workers were temporarily laid off

  • Claims for temporary unemployment payments increased sharply

  • Some employees worked longer shifts on the days when electricity was available

  • Output fell less than expected, while wages also changed little

The 'Who governs Britain?' election

• Heath called a general election for 28th February 1974

  • He presented the central question as 'Who governs Britain?'

  • Voters were asked to choose between the authority of the elected government and the power of trade unions

• Opinion polls favoured the Conservatives for much of the campaign

• The final result produced a small swing against the government

An inconclusive result

• The election produced the first hung parliament since 1929

  • The Conservatives won a slightly larger share of the vote than Labour

  • Labour won more seats because its support was spread more effectively

  • Labour remained 17 seats short of an overall majority

• Heath tried to remain in office

  • He spent several days negotiating with Jeremy Thorpe's Liberal Party

    • Even with the Liberals' 14 MPs, the Conservatives would still have been short of a Commons majority, so Heath also needed Ulster Unionist support

  • Thorpe refused to support a Conservative government

• Heath also lost further support from Northern Ireland

  • The seven Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) MPs refused to take the Conservative whip following the dispute over Sunningdale

  • Without Liberal or Unionist support, Heath could not command a majority

• Wilson formed a minority Labour government on the 4th March 1974

How successful was Heath's government, 1970-1974?

• Heath's government had some important achievements but its economic and industrial policies produced limited results

• Its record was also shaped by problems that had begun before 1970 or developed outside Britain

  • Some key evidence for each side is noted below

Where the government fell short

• Heath abandoned much of the Selsdon Park programme within two years

  • The government returned to supporting struggling industries

  • It introduced controls over wages and prices

• The Industrial Relations Act (1971) failed to reduce industrial conflict

  • Many unions refused to register or recognise the new court

  • Strike action continued

• Inflation was higher when Heath left office than when he entered it

• The miners defeated the government's pay policy twice

  • The 1972 strike ended with the government accepting the Wilberforce pay award

  • The 1974 strike contributed to the three-day week and the February election

• Heath called the February 1974 election around the question, 'Who governs Britain?'

  • The Conservatives won more votes than Labour but fewer seats

  • Heath could not secure enough support to remain in office

• The Sunningdale Agreement failed to maintain unionist support

  • The seven Ulster Unionist Party MPs no longer took the Conservative whip

  • Their absence weakened Heath's position after the election

Problems facing the government

• The 1973 oil crisis caused a sharp rise in energy prices

  • Oil prices increased to around four times their previous level

  • The crisis affected economies across the Western world

• Heath's government faced 'stagflation'

  • Inflation and unemployment rose together

  • Earlier governments had not found a solution to this problem

• Trade unions resisted attempts to control wages

  • Their bargaining position was strengthened by the government's commitment to full employment

• Violence in Northern Ireland had already escalated before he took office

  • No previous British government had secured a lasting political settlement