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56-412: From 1 January 1974, commercial users of electricity were limited to three specified consecutive days' consumption each week and prohibited from working longer hours on those days. Services deemed essential (e.g. hospitals, data centres, supermarkets and newspaper printing presses) were exempt. Television companies were required to cease broadcasting at 22:30 to conserve electricity, although this restriction

112-596: A currency crisis . Rather than risk a total shutdown, working time was reduced to prolong the life of available fuel stocks. Television broadcasts were to shut down at 22:30 each evening, and most pubs were closed; due to the power surges generated at 22:30, the Central Electricity Generating Board argued for a staggered shutdown on BBC and ITV , alternating nightly, and this was eventually introduced. The television broadcasting restrictions were introduced on 17 December 1973, suspended for

168-543: A hung parliament : the Conservative Party took the largest share of the vote, but lost its majority, with Labour having the most seats in the House of Commons . In the ensuing talks, Heath failed to secure enough parliamentary support from Liberal and Ulster Unionist MPs ; and Harold Wilson returned to power in a minority government. The normal working week was restored on 8 March, but other restrictions on

224-628: A 3% lead and one a 5% lead. As the Queen was in New Zealand on 7 February, the Prime Minister notified her of his intentions via telegram, rather than by the usual protocol of visiting Buckingham Palace . The key dates were as follows: The election was fought on new constituency boundaries with five more seats added to the 630 used in 1970. This led to many seats changing hands on the new notional boundaries. Notional election results from

280-545: A Labour victory would be a "major national disaster". Sandbrook criticised the Conservative manifesto as "very vague and woolly" and lacking in "detailed policies or [a] sense of direction." Edward Heath played a dominant and crucial role in the campaign. In public, he appeared calm and in control. David Watt, in the Financial Times , called him "statesmanlike" and "relaxed". In his party's final broadcast of

336-541: A Labour victory would result in "galloping inflation", and an editorial in The Daily Telegraph said a Labour government would be "complete ruin public and private" and condemned what it saw as Wilson's "craven subservience to trade union power". The Evening Standard published a piece by Kingsley Amis calling the Labour politician Tony Benn , who was to be appointed Secretary of State for Industry after

392-769: A powerful trade union. By the middle of 1973, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) – drawn from a workforce who almost wholly worked for the National Coal Board – were becoming more militant with the election of Mick McGahey as vice-president. The national conference passed resolutions for a 35% wage increase, regardless of any government guidelines, and for the election of a Labour government committed to "true socialist policy" including nationalisation of land and all key monopolies. As inflation increased, miners' wages fell in real terms and, by October 1973, average wages were 2.3% lower than recommended by

448-667: A second time, his first with a minority government. Wilson called another early election in September, which was held in October and resulted in a Labour majority. The February election was also the first general election to be held with the United Kingdom as a member state of the European Communities (EC), which was widely known as the "Common Market". Its results saw Northern Ireland diverging heavily from

504-525: A statement to condemn McGahey. He responded "You can't dig coal with bayonets." Taken from John Douglass' Strike, not the end of the story (National Coal Mining Museum for England publications), p.24: The strike began officially on 5 February and, two days later, Heath called the February 1974 general election while the Three-Day Week was in force. His government emphasised the pay dispute with

560-537: A string of by-elections in 1972 and 1973. It had begun to appeal to disaffected Conservative voters and continued to do so throughout the campaign. Thorpe came across as young and charismatic, often attempting to appear above the two-party fray. The manifesto, You can Change the Face of Britain , promised voting reform and devolution, but Sandbrook described its economic policy as "impossibly vague". The Liberals began to contest more seats, standing in 517 constituencies across

616-513: A workable majority. Heath, therefore, started negotiations with Thorpe to form a coalition government . Thorpe, never enthusiastic about supporting the Conservatives, demanded major electoral reforms in exchange for such an agreement. Unwilling to accept such terms, Heath resigned, and Wilson returned for his second stint as Prime Minister . The election night was covered live on the BBC and

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672-480: The European Economic Community and to holding a national referendum on the issue. The Labour campaign presented the party's leadership as competent negotiators, who would restore peace with the unions. Unlike in previous elections, Wilson took something of a back seat and allowed James Callaghan , Denis Healey and Shirley Williams to play equal, if not greater, roles in the campaign. In

728-1008: The Trades Union Congress supported the NUM's actions. In the 1970s, most of the UK's electricity was produced by coal-burning power stations. To reduce electricity consumption, and thus conserve coal stocks, the Conservative Prime Minister, Edward Heath , announced a number of measures under the Fuel and Electricity (Control) Act 1973 on 13 December 1973, including the Three-Day Work Order, which came into force at midnight on 31 December. Commercial consumption of electricity would be limited to three consecutive days each week. Heath's objectives were business continuity and survival and to avoid further inflation and

784-482: The United Kingdom became a member of the European Communities on 1 January 1973, and the first since 1929 not to produce an overall majority in the House of Commons for the party with the most votes. This was also the first time since 1910 that two general elections were held in the same year. On Thursday 7 February, it was announced that Prime Minister Edward Heath had asked Queen Elizabeth II , who

840-588: The Wilberforce Inquiry , which reported on miners' pay in 1972. In November 1973, the national executive committee of the NUM rejected the pay offer from the NCB and held a national ballot on a strike. The vote was rejected by 143,006 to 82,631. However, an overtime ban was implemented with the aim of halving production. This action hurt the coal industry and was unpopular amongst the British media, although

896-578: The Winter of Discontent running into that year, Labour reminded voters of the Three-Day Week, with a poster showing a lit candle and bearing the slogan "Remember the last time the Tories said they had all the answers?" February 1974 United Kingdom general election Edward Heath Conservative Harold Wilson Labour The February 1974 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 28 February 1974. The Labour Party , led by Leader of

952-512: The unofficial strike of 1969 and the official strike of 1972 . Aware of the damage that could be done to the Labour Party's electoral prospects by media coverage of picket-line violence, the NUM instituted strict controls over pickets. Pickets had to wear armbands saying "official picket" and had to be authorised by areas. Unlike in 1972, students were discouraged from joining miners' picket lines. Every picket line had to be authorised by

1008-487: The 1970 general election were calculated on behalf of the BBC by Michael Steed to of compare constituency results with those of February 1974. For the first time since 1929 , the two largest political parties had received less than a combined share of 80% of the vote, and the Liberals had also won more than 10% of the vote. National Federation of Colliery Officials The National Federation of Colliery Officials

1064-402: The 1970s the British economy was troubled by high rates of inflation. To tackle this, the government capped public sector pay rises and publicly promoted a clear capped level to the private sector. This caused unrest amongst trade unions as wages did not keep pace with price increases. This extended to most industries, including coal mining, which provided the majority of the country's fuel and had

1120-605: The Christmas and New Year period, and lifted on 8 February 1974. On 24 January 1974, 81% of NUM members voted to strike, having rejected the offer of a 16.5% pay rise. In contrast to the regional divisions of other strikes, every region of the NUM voted by a majority in favour of strike action. The only area that did not was the Colliery Officials and Staff Association (COSA) section. Some administrative staff had joined another union, APEX , to distance themselves from

1176-642: The Conservative whip proved decisive in giving Labour a slim plurality of seats. The other four unionists elected were hardliners who were not affiliated with the UUP. Both the Labour and the Conservative parties lost a considerable share of the popular vote, largely to the Liberal Party under Jeremy Thorpe 's leadership, which polled two-and-a-half times its share of the vote in the previous election. However, even with over 6,000,000 votes, only 14 Liberal MPs were elected. There had been some media projections that

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1232-655: The Conservative campaign came on 26 February when Campbell Adamson , Director-General of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), was reported to have called for the repeal of the Heath Government's Industrial Relations Act and to have said that the Act had "sullied every relationship between employers and unions at national level". Adamson had been closely involved with the Downing Street talks over

1288-523: The Conservative manifesto, urged people to vote against Heath for bringing about UK membership of the European Communities . In a speech in Birmingham on 23 February 1974, Powell claimed the main issue in the campaign was whether Britain was to "remain a democratic nation ... or whether it will become one province in a new Europe super-state"; he said it was people's "national duty" to oppose those who had deprived Parliament of "its sole right to make

1344-897: The Forest of Dean Colliery Examiners', Overmen, and Shot Firers' Association, the Midland Mining Officials' Association, the Somerset Colliery Officials' Association, and Yorkshire. The federation received recognition from colliery owners in 1920, and quickly negotiated a national agreement on pay and conditions for colliery officials and clerks. By 1936, the membership of the federation was described as "surveyors, under-managers, overmen, master wastemen, electricians and engineers, surface foremen, screening plant foremen, and clerks". About three-quarters of its members were based in Durham and Northumberland, with

1400-469: The Liberals could take twice as many seats. Given that it was not obvious who could command the support of the House, Heath did not resign immediately as prime minister. However, he knew that even if he could persuade all eleven of Northern Ireland's unionist MPs to support a Conservative government, at least on confidence matters, over one led by Wilson, he would still need the support of the Liberals to have

1456-595: The Opposition and former Prime Minister Harold Wilson , gained 14 seats (301 total) but was seventeen short of an overall majority. The Conservative Party , led by incumbent Prime Minister Edward Heath , lost 28 seats (though it polled a higher share of the vote than Labour). That resulted in a hung parliament , the first since 1929 . Heath sought a coalition with the Liberals , but the two parties failed to come to an agreement and so Wilson became prime minister for

1512-427: The balance of power and wealth in favour of working people and their families". It advocated planning agreements with industry and the creation of a National Enterprise Board . That section attracted criticism from some figures within the party. For example, Anthony Crosland privately called the programme "half-baked" and "idiotic".The manifesto also committed the party to renegotiating the terms of Britain's entry into

1568-534: The campaign he said: "I'll do all that I can for this country ... We've started a job together. With your will, we shall go on and finish the job". One Conservative political broadcast attracted controversy for its ferocity. In the film the narrator warned that Labour would confiscate "your bank account, your mortgage and your wage packet" while pictures of Harold Wilson and James Callaghan dissolved into those of Michael Foot and Tony Benn . It went on to allege that Labour would not have to move much further to

1624-478: The claims of the National Coal Board . That came as a severe blow to the Conservative position, and led to accusations that the National Coal Board did not understand its own pay system and that the strike was unnecessary. Further bad news for Heath and his party came four days later, with the latest trade figures showing that the current account deficit for the previous month had been £383,000,000,

1680-574: The country on television on the evening of 7 February, and asked: Do you want a strong Government which has clear authority for the future to take decisions which will be needed? Do you want Parliament and the elected Government to continue to fight strenuously against inflation? Or do you want them to abandon the struggle against rising prices under pressure from one particularly powerful group of workers ... This time of strife has got to stop. Only you can stop it. It's time for you to speak—with your vote. It's time for your voice to be heard—the voice of

1736-465: The country's problems. It was the first general election in the United Kingdom to be held during an economic crisis since the 1931 general election , which had been held in the depths of the Great Depression . Throughout the campaign 25 of the 26 opinion polls had a Conservative lead and one even by 9%. Of the six polls on election day (28 February), two had a 2% lead, two a 4% lead, one

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1792-503: The country. During the election, the Scottish National Party campaigned widely on the political slogan " It's Scotland's oil ". It was argued that the discovery of North Sea oil off the coast of Scotland and the revenue that it created would not benefit Scotland to any significant degree while it remained part of the United Kingdom. The historian Dominic Sandbrook describes the "level of partisanship" amongst

1848-520: The election was held prompted both The Sun and the Daily Mirror to characterise it as a "crisis election". On 10 February, the National Union of Mineworkers , as expected, went on strike, but it was more of a low-key affair than the high-profile clashes of 1972 , with no violence and only six men on each picket line. Jim Prior later wrote that the miners had been "as quiet and well-behaved as mice". The Three-Day Week continued throughout

1904-526: The election, "the most dangerous man in Britain", and in the Daily Express , the cartoonist Cummings depicted the miners' leader Joe Gormley , Wilson and other Labour figures as French revolutionaries guillotining Heath. The Guardian , in contrast, chose to support no party openly. Its columnist Peter Jenkins claimed the last ten years had proved that "neither party" had the ability to deal with

1960-627: The election, although Heath allowed the late-night television curfew to be lifted to allow more coverage of the campaign. The low profile of the miners' strike allowed worries over inflation to dominate the election. On 15 February, it was announced that the Retail Price Index showed a 20% increase in prices over the previous year. On 21 February, the Pay Board released a report on miners' pay, which unexpectedly revealed that they were paid less than other manufacturing workers, contrary to

2016-401: The final broadcast of the campaign, a series of leading figures claimed Labour could put Britain "on the road to recovery". In the film, Wilson asserted: "Trades unionists are people. Employers are people. We can't go on setting one against the other except at the cost of damage to the nation itself". The Liberal Party had undergone a revival under the leadership of Jeremy Thorpe by winning

2072-484: The first time in getting candidates elected at a general election in Wales (its sole previous seat was won at a by-election in 1966 ). Although Heath's incumbent Conservative government polled the most votes by a small margin, the Conservatives were overtaken in terms of seats by Wilson's Labour Party because of a more efficiently distributed Labour vote. Ultimately, the decision by the seven Ulster Unionist MPs not to take

2128-409: The future Chancellor Nigel Lawson , was entitled Firm Action for a Fair Britain and characterised by the historian Dominic Sandbrook as "strident rhetoric". It claimed the Labour opposition had been taken over by "a small group of power-hungry trade union leaders", who were "committed to a left-wing programme more dangerous and more extreme than ever before in its history". It went on to assert that

2184-541: The head of social policy at the New Economics Foundation and British sociologist Peter Fleming, among others, have proposed the re-introduction of a three-day work week. The arguments for its re-introduction include a better work-life balance, more family time, improved health and well-being, greater sustainability (such as via reduced carbon emissions), increased work productivity, and a reduction of overwork, unemployment and over-consumption. Throughout

2240-426: The increasing militancy of the NUM. APEX members did not strike, which led to resentment amongst NUM members. In the aftermath of the vote, there was speculation that the army would be used to transport coal and man the power stations. McGahey called in a speech for the army to disobey orders, and either stay in the barracks or join picket lines, if they were asked to break the strike. In response, 111 Labour MPs signed

2296-483: The industry. Members of the federation voted heavily in favour of joining the NUM, and did so on 1 January 1947, becoming the Colliery Officials and Staffs Area (COSA). Two smaller, independent unions of colliery officials voted against joining the NUM. The TUC brokered a deal whereby national level clerical staff would transfer to the Clerical and Administrative Workers' Union , and divisional level clerical staff to

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2352-566: The laws and impose the taxes of the country". The speech prompted The Sun to run the headline "Enoch puts the boot in". A few days later, he said he hoped for victory by "the party which is committed to a fundamental renegotiation of the Treaty of Brussels and to submitting to the British People ;... the outcome of that renegotiation". Those were the explicit manifesto promises of the Labour Party. A further unforeseen blow to

2408-524: The left before "you could find yourself not even owning your own home". Wilson was reportedly furious, and Lord Carrington , the Secretary of State for Energy, made a formal apology. The Labour manifesto, Let us work together , consisted of only ten pages only, the shortest since 1955 . It had been greatly influenced by the economist Stuart Holland and Shadow Industry Secretary Tony Benn . In it, Labour promised "a fundamental and irreversible shift in

2464-486: The local NUM area with a chief picket to ensure that no violence took place. Most of the media were strongly opposed to the NUM strike. An exception was the Daily Mirror , which ran an emotive campaign to support the NUM. Its edition on election day in 1974 showed hundreds of crosses on its front page to represent the miners who had died since nationalisation in 1947, accompanied by the message, "Before you use your cross, remember these crosses". The election resulted in

2520-560: The miners and used the slogan "Who governs Britain?". Heath believed that the public sided with the Conservatives on the issues of strikes and union power. On 21 February 1974, the government's Pay Board reported that the NUM's pay claim was within the Phase 3 system for claims and would return miners' wages to the levels recommended by the Wilberforce Inquiry in 1972. There had been some violence on miners' picket lines during

2576-521: The mining dispute. Although Heath emphasised that Adamson was voicing a personal opinion and that his views did not express the official position of the CBI, he after the election acknowledged that the intervention had a negative impact on the Conservative campaign. Labour, meanwhile, cited Adamson's comments as proving the need "for everything they (had)... been urging on the Government". Heath addressed

2632-408: The moderate and reasonable people of Britain: the voice of the majority. It's time for you to say to the extremists, the militants, and the plain and simply misguided: we've had enough. There's a lot to be done. For heaven's sake, let's get on with it. The Conservative campaign was, thus, encapsulated by the now-famous phrase "Who governs Britain?" The party's manifesto, which was largely written by

2688-428: The national newspapers during the election as "unprecedented" in post-war Britain, with most of the media prejudiced in favour of Heath and the Conservatives. The Daily Mirror was one of the few national newspapers to support Labour, with many others urging their readers to re-elect Heath. In the right-wing media, there was fierce condemnation of Wilson and his party. The Sun , which had supported Labour in 1970, claimed

2744-761: The rest of the United Kingdom, with all twelve candidates elected being from local parties (eleven of them representing unionist parties) after the decision of the Ulster Unionists to withdraw support from the Conservative Party in protest over the Sunningdale Agreement . The Scottish National Party achieved significant success at the election by increasing its share of the popular vote in Scotland from 11% to 22%, and its number of MPs from one to seven. Plaid Cymru also succeeded for

2800-588: The third-largest district being Lancashire, which housed its office, in Bolton . By the 1940s, the federation was known as the National Federation of Colliery Officials and Staffs , reflecting its broader membership, and in 1945 it affiliated to the Trades Union Congress (TUC), with a membership of 8,183, of whom 120 were women. When the mining industry was nationalised, in 1947, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) sought to unite all workers in

2856-482: The use of electricity remained in force. A second general election was held in October 1974 cementing the Labour administration, which gained a majority of three seats. The new Labour government increased miners' wages by 35% immediately after the February 1974 election. In February 1975, a further increase of 35% was achieved without any industrial action. In the campaign for the 1979 general election , following

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2912-455: The worst in recorded history. Heath claimed the figures confirmed "the gravity of the situation" and the need for a new mandate, which prompted Roy Jenkins to quip: "He [Heath] presumably thinks a still worse result would have given him a still stronger claim". One of the most unexpected and explosive events of the campaign was when the outspoken Conservative MP Enoch Powell , who had already announced that he could not stand for re-election on

2968-618: Was a trade union representing colliery workers in the United Kingdom who were not involved in manual labour. The federation was established in December 1919 by local unions of colliery officials, with the most important being the Northern Colliery Officials' Mutual Association, founded in 1914, and the Lancashire and Cheshire Colliery Officials' Association. It soon had six smaller affiliates, including Consett,

3024-475: Was dropped after a general election was called. The Three-Day Week restrictions were lifted on 7 March 1974. The measure was a major disaster for the Heath government, contributing to the losses in both the February election and the subsequent October election . Following the losses Margaret Thatcher challenged Heath to a leadership contest and subsequently won. In the 21st century, those such as Anna Coote,

3080-452: Was presented by Alastair Burnet , David Butler , Robert McKenzie and Robin Day . Prominent members of Parliament who retired or were defeated at the election included Gordon Campbell , Bernadette McAliskey , Enoch Powell , Richard Crossman , Tom Driberg and Patrick Gordon Walker . It was the first of two United Kingdom general elections held that year, the first to take place after

3136-476: Was then in New Zealand for the 1974 British Commonwealth Games , to dissolve Parliament for a general election to take place on 28 February. Because of the Queen's being abroad, the dissolution of parliament was required to be promulgated by Counsellors of State , in this case Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and Princess Margaret , on her express instructions. The severe economic circumstances in which

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