Wilson 1964-70 Flashcards
1964 election
Narrow election victory 1964 (The Conservatives had a tired and ageing image. Wilson only won because he out debated Douglas-Home.Labour had a young and enterprising image)
Social unrest
Government responded to racial violence with restrictive Commonwealth Immigration Act 1968
Overseas
Costs and changing attitudes to policeman role led to abandon of Britain’s east of Suez position. UK gave diplomatic support to USA in Vietnam War
Social reform acts
The Abortion Act 1967 - Greater freedom, reliable contraception. It permitted legal terminations where 2 doctors certified that there was a serious mental or physical risk to the mother of a strong chance the child would have abnormalities
Theatres Act 1968 - Removed outdated system for approval
Sexual Offences Act 1967 - Legal private male homosexual acts between consenting adults, it was already legal for women.
Ombudsman 1967 - Officer appointed so ordinary citizens could appeal to regarding abuse of authority by government.
Abolition of death penalty - Removed remaining 5 sentences
Divorce Reform Act 1969 - It allowed couples to divorce on the terms of ‘irretrievable breakdown’ of their relationship
The open university 1969 - Enabled unqualified students to red for degrees by studying courses broadcasted on radio/TV
Commonwealth Immigration Act 1968 - Prohibited new immigrants from settling in Britain unless they had pre-established British connections
Race Relations Act 1968 - Prohibition of racial discrimination in public places, making incitement to racial hatred on offence, setting up the community race relation board, trying to promote inter-racial understanding
Shortcomings of the Wilson years
- Rising unemployment
- 15% tariff on imports sold in Britain to encourage Brits to buy them instead of foreign exports
-Harold Wilson continued to prioritise the special relationship with the US. For example, he continued to support the UK-US Nuclear Deterrent project. The Wilson ministry also expressed support for the US’s Cold War involvement in the Vietnam War conflict. However, Wilson refused to send British troops to back up the US front in Vietnam, successfully keeping Britain out of another war through harming the special relationship.
In place of strife
- Secretary of State for Employment Barbara Castle laid out a set of proposals aimed at limiting workers’ strikes.
- The problem with strikes was that workers were taking unofficial strike action, which meant strikes took place without first being ratified by the relevant trade unions.
The key proposals of ‘In Place of Strife’:
~ Introduce a 28-day cooling-off period before a strike can be carried out.
~ Introduce strike ballots: a union must hold a ballot before organising industrial action.
~ If unions disagreed with these proposals, they would face prosecution in an industrial relations court and be met with fines.
Withdraw from East Suez
The aim was to cut Britain’s military defence expenditure, as the burden of upkeeping Britain’s overseas military bases in colonies made a huge dent in the British economy.
Healy and Wilson were thus adamant about bringing the defence budget under £2 billion by withdrawing troops from the following countries by 1971:
- Aden (now part of Yemen)
- Malaysia
- Singapore.
Failure to control the unions
Wilson then turned to prices and income policies. Wilson planned to work with unions, employers, and industrialists to limit rises in prices and wages to curb inflation. Wilson’s prices and income policies alienated the left of the Labour party and trade unionists, as Wilson was actively working against workers’ best interests
Examples of failure to control the unions
- The Seamen’s strike of 1966 aimed to secure higher wages and reduce the working week from 56 hours to 40 hours. The strike lasted seven weeks and caused enormous economic disruption.
- The Docks strikes of 1967 took place in Liverpool and London, targeting England’s major ports. The Docks strikes caused further disruption, affecting Britain’s exports and
subsequently heightening the balance of payments deficit
Devaluation of the pound 1967
- Strikes put further pressure on the pound.
- Six-Day Warbetween Arab states and Israel affected Britain’s oil supply, raising the cost of oil.
- Wilson applied for another loan from the IMF, but it was not enough to offset Britain’s trade and balance of payments deficits (which Conservatives left to Labour of £800 million deficit)
- Before devaluation £1 was worth $2.80.
- After devaluation, the pound was worth 14% less at $2.40)
Powell factor
- Speech strongly criticised mass immigration, especially Commonwealth immigration to UK and proposed Race Relations Bill.
- Became known “Rivers of Blood” speech.
- He said black people would take power in Britain within 20 years and painted a picture of riots/race war
Economic difficulties
- High inflation and unemployement
- Manufacturing industries were shrinking
- Rash of strikes
- Service and financing industries was expanding
- National Plan
National Plan
- George Brown created Economic policies.
- Wilson’s government put faith in economic planning to solve Britain’s problems.
- The government’s strategy involved setting up a DEA which would draw up a National Plan
- It intended to promote growth/investment
- Failed 1966 and TU’s weren’t on board
Relations with the US
- Wilson continued to prioritise special relations with US.
- He continued to support the UK-US Nuclear project.
- Wilson expressed support for the US’s Cold War involvement in the Vietnam War.
- He refused to send British troops to back up the US front in Vietnam, which kept Britain out of another war through harming the special relationship.
Defence budget
Spending cuts designed to bring down defence budget to below £2 billion by 1970
