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British History > Topic 2: liberal reforming legislation (1964-70) > Flashcards

Topic 2: liberal reforming legislation (1964-70) Flashcards

1
Q

3

Describe Jenkins as Home Sec (1965-67)

A
  • From Dec 1965
  • Most liberal Home Sec until that point
  • Gave sufficient parliamentary time to PMBs
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2
Q

3

Describe Liberal reforming legislation/PMBs

A
  • Wilson/Brown socially conservative
  • Lab MPs not whipped
  • Can be argued laws progressed further than society
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3
Q

3 (with MP)

List PMBs (1964-70)

A
  • Murder Act 1965 - Lab backbencher Sydney Silverman
  • Abortion Act 1967 - Liberal MP David Steel
  • Sexual Offences Act 1967 - Lab backbencher Leo Abse
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4
Q

2

List government-led liberal reforming legislation (1964-70)

A
  • Divorce Reform Act 1969
  • Circular 10/65 (not strictly legislation)
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5
Q

5

Describe liberal reforming legislation to end capital punishment

A
  • Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965 - PMB by Sydney Silverman
  • Abolsihed hanging for trial of 5 years
  • Made permanent by Callaghan (Home Sec) in 1969
  • Beating of prisoners ceased after 1967
  • Legsialtion did not lead to spike in murder/violent crime
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6
Q

2

Describe limits to the liberal reforming legislation to end capital punishment

A
  • Calls for stricter laws against ‘malicious damage’
  • Across 60’s, 61% to 82% of population in favour of tougher sentencing
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7
Q

3 (inc its effects)

Describe liberal reforming legislation for divorce reform

A
  • Until 60s, divorce required evidence that one party had committed adultery -> hard to prove
  • Divorce Reform Act 1969 (Govt legislation) allowed for divorce following the ‘irretrievable breakdown’ of a marriage (with restrictions)
  • Huge increase in divorces in England and Wales: 0.2% in 1950 to 1% in mid-1970s
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8
Q

4

Describe limits to liberal reforming legislation for divorce reform

A
  • Restrictions to legislation: together for 2 years and both partners wnat divorce; together for 5 years and one partner wants divorce
  • Considerable Conservative opposition
  • Only 30-40% of public in favour of making divorce easier
  • Greater female independence was arguably larger contributor to increase in divorces
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9
Q

5

Describe problems in abortion until 1967

A
  • Until 1967, abortion was illegal (except on strictly medical grounds)
  • Between 100k and 200k illegal abortions were performed each year
  • 35k went to hospital as a result each year
  • Between 1958-60, 82 women died from complications
  • Thalidomide disaster of 1959-62 that strengthened their case
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10
Q

6

Describe liberal reforming legislation to legalise abortion

A
  • Abortion Act 1967 - PMB by Liberal MP David Steel
  • allowed legal termination within 28 weeks
  • justification needed was ‘mental suffering’, not physical condition
  • supported by Lab govt and number of Conservatives
  • Steel had hoped more effective contraception and better education would limit abortions
  • Number of abortions increased from 4% in 1968 to 18% in 1975
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11
Q

3

Describe limits to liberal reforming legislation to legalise abortion

A
  • In 1966, the Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child set up
  • Would oppose any liberalisation
  • Fearted it would lead to abortion on demand
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12
Q

3

Describe problems in homosexual relations until 1967

A
  • Men could be imprisoned for up to 2 years for participation in such acts
  • Conservatives had rejected Wolfenden Report 1957 to decriminalise homosexuality
  • Labour government of 1964 divided on issue
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13
Q

3

Describe liberal reforming legislation to legalise homosexual relations

A
  • Sexual Offences Act 1967 - PMB by Leo Abse
  • Passed with Jenkins support - described it as an ‘important and civilising measure’
  • Decriminalised homosexual acts (where both partners consented, both were 21 years old, and was in private)
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14
Q

3

Describe limits to liberal reforming legislation to legalise homosexual relations

A
  • Age of consent set at 21 - heterosexual consent age stood at 16
  • ‘in private’ interpreted as no one else being in the building and so prosecutions continued
  • homosexuality not decriminalised by Act, just permitted where certain conditions were met
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15
Q

7

Describe liberal reforming legislation for comprehensive schools

A
  • Seen as root cause of social inequality
  • By 1964, 10% of pupils in comprehesive schools (10x as many in 1951)
  • Crossland (Education Sec) issued Circular 10/65 in 1965
  • LEAs requested to convert to comprehensive system
  • In 1966, Crossland made additional funding conditional on conversion
  • by 1970, only 8 authorities had failed to do so
  • By 1970, ⅓ of all secondary pupils were in 1145 comprehensive schools

Circulars are not legally binding, but many LEAs responded to it

LEA - Local Education Authorities (ran schools in some areas)

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16
Q

2

Describe limits to liberal reforming legislation for comprehensive schools

A
  • Some turned to direct grant schools and independent schools → not truly equal
  • Critics argued it levelled down education quality

grant schools - 1/4 funded by gvt, 3/4 by feess

17
Q

6

Describe liberal reforming legislation for higher education

A
  • Influenced by Robbins report (1963) - Britain waned too heavily on arts subjects
  • Lab expanded higher education
  • Wider opportunities for families for social mobility
  • Polytechnics replaced Colleges of Technology
  • 9 Colleges of Advanced Technology granted uni status with aim of encouraging science (e.g. Royal College of Science in Scotland became Strathclyde University)
  • by 1968, there were 30 polytehnics and 56 unis with courses such as town planning
18
Q

2

Describe limits to liberal reforming legislation for higher education

A
  • Binary divide between academics universities and vocational polytechnics
  • Middle classes dominated old, more prestigious, universities
19
Q

7

Describe liberal reforming legislation for the Open University

A
  • Wilson tasked Jennie Lee (Minister for the Arts)
  • OU HQ opened in Milton Keynes in 1969
  • First courses in 1971
  • Distance learning: radio, TV broadcasts
  • Part-time students, esp home-based women or WC men
  • By 1980, OU had 70k students and was awarding more degrees than Oxbridge combined
  • Wilson would later claim this was his proudest achievement

startling example of social mobility

British History (36 decks)

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