labour in power 1964-70: white hot heat

• 1964 general election


  - labour won (317 seats) and conservatives lost (304 seats, gave labour the majority of 4 seats

  - conservatives had been in office for the past 13 years and labour party presented a youthful image that was more in tune with young people and progressive britain

  - labour presented itself advocating for technological advancements in the white heat of technology whilst showing home to be old fashioned and out of touch

  - conservatives lack of change and weak leader in combination with wilson offering changes and advancements motivated people to vote labour
• wilson's vision for the future

  - 4 fold program that combined science and politics which was about utilizing scientists in beneficial research that makes use of their intelligence and skill whilst strengthening britain's industry + making overall advancements

  - technology at this time was being used for personal benefits in private enterprises which made britain's condition worse + wilson wanted tech to be used productively to benefit everyone since it would put britain as a top nation (wasn't producing much during this time)
• reasons for labour's victory in 1964


  - weariness of 13 years of conservative rule

  - harold wilson's charisma and labour's youthful image rather than home as a leader

  - conservative's humiliating failure to join the EEC in 1963

  - unemployment reached 800k during macmillan years
• labour's difficulty in government

  - economic difficulties as industries were changing as service and finance was increasing and manufacturing was decreasing -> not a smooth transition as it changed from industrial to post industrial economy

  - huge spendings on defence and very little in industries when it wasn't involved in any conflicts

  - central and local governments responded rather than directing it

  - britain was doing worse in economic growth because of too much spending on defence and less in investing in industry (USA spending 40% when involved in conflict whereas britain spent 34.5% when it wasn't involved in any)
• national plan 1964


  - george brown drew up the national plan which was a program for modernization aimed at increasing industrial production and exports by encouraging cooperation between governments, employers and trade unions

  - few of the expansive targets were met and by 1967 it was abandoned

  - gov was impressed by labour's attempts at modernization and advancements and was one of the reasons it gave labour a majority of 110 over tories in 1966 election
• tensions with unions


  - wilson was committed to the idea that the inflation and balance of payments deficit were the major threats to economic progress

  - wanted trade unions to be realistic about pay demands therefore pressed forward ideas of cuts in government spending and a wage freeze

  - prices and incomes board set up to regulate pay settlements + minister of technology, frank cousins resigned over this

  - wilson's attitude disappointed the left and the trade unions as they thought the labour party would bring them benefits and this type of behaviour was expected from the conservatives + created further disputes and strikes

  - most disruptive strike was the seamen's and docker's unions that wilson inferred as a marxist attack on britain's industrial well being
• devaluation 1967


  - Wilson believed the industrial troubles and trade unions caused the increases in britain's trade deficit and worried the gov was losing control of finances

  - £ went down by 14.3%, in exchange went from $2.80 to $2.40

  - done to increase economic growth and to balance payments

  - devaluation implemented with james callaghan, was done to allow better foreign investments, exports are cheaper so british goods are sold more

  - labour was usually associated with devaluation but wilson didn't want it to be but this devaluation didn't improve anything, was seen as a failure of the labour party

  - productivity only increased by 18% as they were buying but weren't selling as much and was attempting to keep up the image of a powerful nation when it wasn't compared to usa, etc
• labour and europe 1967 (EEC)


  - britain attempts to join EEC again in order to stay at the same pace economically and financially as europe

  - discussions made in the government to go ahead and make the formal request, though there were objections from labour mps

  - britain on the grounds of the request was rejected due to it being obstructive, meant the recent devaluation of the sterling, unbalance of payments and economic problems were the obstacles (britain wouldn't be able to contribute properly)

  - vetoed by france, though other countries wanted britain to join

  - wilson's government is humiliated, another rejection from the EEC (last one in 1963)
• in place of strife' 1969


  - set of proposals aimed at preventing future strikes

  - members of a union would have to be balloted and would have to agree by a clear majority on industrial action before a strike would be recognized as legal

  - unions were angered by this as they were decreasing their rights and expected this kind of behaviour from the tories

  - never became a legal document

  - barbara castle proposed this document to reduce and control strikes believing it would improve the sectors in economy

  - james callaghan didn't want the document to go through and it didn't due to the reasonings of that alienating the trade unions further as it could affect the gov and that unions also provided a bulk of their funds
• record of wilson's government 1964-70


  - by 1970, there was a feeling that wilson's first gov didn't live up to expectations, the most disappointment was amongst traditional labour supporters

  - they felt the gov had promised so much but delivered little, claiming to be a modernizing and reforming gov but in reality delivered conservative style not in content

  - there weren't huge changes even though some sections of the industry had improved, the whole of it didn't improve hugely
• roy jenkins as home secretary


  - was able to effectively pass acts such as legalizing homosexuality, abolishing theatre censorship, etc through his vision that aligned with socialist and labour views

  - he felt the 'permissive age' should be known as the 'civilized age' as he felt the social changes being brought in were the most important and needed for the advancement of britain and society

  - during his years as secretary, he was able to bring forth great social changes and acts that benefited british society

  - during his years as chancellor of exchequer, he was able to balance payments through processes he implemented that led to an increase in exports and economy; known to be the best post war chancellors due to this

  - founded SDP in 1981 but his greatest achievement was reforming britain and bringing social changes to improve the quality of society
• social reform acts in britain

  - theatres act

  - obscene publications act

  - sexual offences act

  - divorce reform act

  - abortion act

  - family planning act

  - race relations acts

  - abolition of death penalty act
• theatres act 1968


  - abolished theatre restrictions and approvals and allowed freedom of speech

  - people could freely watch whatever they wanted and gain exposure to all kinds of media
• Obscene Publications Act 1959

  - penguin books decided to test out this new freedom by publishing 'lady chatterley's lover' that contained details of swearing and descriptions of sexual activity -> was prosecuted for publishing an 'obscene' text

  - trial became a test case and the not guilty verdict was the beginning of the permissive age in literature

  - those in the literary world rejoiced at the victory for free self expression and that writers and explicit publications started to come through with language and content that wouldn't have been used before the trial
• sexual offences act 1967


  - homosexual acts were allowed in private between consenting adults over the age of 21

  - people could freely be in a relationship with anyone when it was illegal to do so which gave them more freedom

  - the term 'gay' was adopted by homosexuals as a word that was free of connotations of stigma and disapproval
• divorce reform act 1969


  - allowed couples to divorce after 2 years of separation if consenting or 5 years if they weren't, don't need to prove their marriage's breakdown due to other reasons

  - people could now afford to get divorced more easily as it was cheaper now and didn't have to prove the marriage's breakdown due to reasons such as adultery, etc

  - women could file for divorce more easily without having to prove it with reasons
• abortion act 1967


  - allowed legal termination of pregnancy if there were serious risks to the mother or to the child

  - gave women their right to choose to have children, allowing greater freedom which would've decreased cases of unwanted pregnancies, created controversies as many saw it as immoral to end a life, but it gave more control to women over their own life
• family planning act 1967

  - contraceptives available through the NHS and advised the low income groups

  - people were more educated on having families and providing for them, given more control of family planning due to having access to contraceptives
• race relations act 1965+ 68

  - prohibited racial discrimination in public places, setting up a board to investigate complaints, provoking racial hatred is a criminal offense

  - minorities were being given more rights and protected by the gov by enforcing more acts
• abolition of death penalty act 1969


  - removed the death penalties for the 5 remaining categories of offence

  - showed that punishment can be restorative instead of killing off people; perhaps innocent people were saved from the penalty
• developments in britain to support the permissive age society

  - ombudsman 1967= ordinary citizens could appeal if they felt they had suffered from an abuse of authority by a gov dept

  - after lifting restrictions on literature and theatre, BBC and ITV became more relaxed in terms of content broadcasting

  - some people such as mary whitehouse and another labour mp was against the television freedom as they were against the open sale and availability of pornography, etc

  - open university 1969 was established by wilson who claimed this was his greatest achievement which allowed for everyone to study courses broadcast on radio/tv for free
• criticisms of wilson's government

  - young people and the left became the most disillusioned as they had hoped for wilson to come through on his promises

  - even those who accepted the value of social reform acts they tended to see it isolated and not part of it

  - rising unemployment, growing inflation, wage controls, attempted restriction of trade unions, britain's failed attempt to join europe, immigration controls
• vietnam war


  - a grievance of the left of the party was the government's support for USA's involvement with the vietnam war

  - usa had received backlash from home leading to its withdrawal from vietnam leaving the communists victorious

  - though britain didn't take part in the vietnam war it gave consistent diplomatic support to USA which to the left showed that britain's subservience to usa in foreign affairs

  - there were attacks in london in the us embassy and wilson responded to this by saying that britain couldn't afford to antagonise usa as much of their efforts paid britain's bills
• End of Britain's 'East of Suez Role' 1967-71


  - withdrawal of troops was announced from east of suez but usa was against it as it claimed that cold war tensions required greater not lesser commitments to the defence of the world's strategic areas

  - still went through withdrawal because: high cost of maintaining expensive bases when there were economic difficulties back home, suez crisis undermined britain's confidence in playing 'world policeman', military engagements in malaysia, cyprus, etc stretched britain's military resources to the limit, abandonment of its empire made it logical to withdraw from military bases, britain still remained a world power by being a nuclear armed nation
• why was east of suez withdrawal significant

  - showed that britain wasn't as powerful currently as USA or USSR as this showed how overstretched the military resources had become which strained the economy = instability

  - withdrawal though meant that britain was starting to invest into its own economy and strengthen it
• changes in spending in 1968 and how it affected britain's relations

  - reduction in spending of defence in britain went from 7% to 5%

  - led britain to concentrate limited defence resources in europe as threats were greater there

  - though withdrawal was opposed by usa, it was reconciled through industrialisation as usa wanted to spend more internationally especially on vietnam
• The seamen and docker’s union

  • The gap between gov. and unions became evident in a series of strikes over pay in 1966 to 1967, being lengthy stoppages by the seamen's and the dockers' unions.
  • Wilson saw these as more than industrial disputes; he marked them as an intentional attack by a group of Marxist extremists on Britain's industrial well-being.
  • In 1966, he spoke in the commons of 'a tightly knit group of politically motivated men who are now determined to exercise backstage pressures endangering the security of the industry and the economic welfare of the nation'.