The Years of Uncertainty and Unrest (1970–1978)

Abstract

The Heath Government of 1970–1974 had one radical aim: to break with the State interventionist and consensus welfare policies of previous Labour and Conservative governments, an aim that was to resurface with the Thatcher Government of 1979. Government expenditure would be cut, individuals would have fatter pay packets, commercial enterprises would not be bailed out at the taxpayer’s expense, inflation would be reduced, people were to become more responsible and self-sufficient. Those who could not cope would qualify for social benefits and thereby help was to be concentrated where it was needed most. Unfortunately this simplistic policy did not work out at the time, and for many reasons. Major reforms were passed by Parliament and put into effect: in 1971 the Industrial Relations Bill was implemented in August and was to sour relations for the remainder of the decade even after it was rescinded in 1974 (and without any evidence whether such legislation was workable). The Local Government Act, evolved by the Redcliffe-Maud Committee, was later to create arguments between Hammersmith and the Local Authority about co-terminosity of medical services in the reorganized N.H.S. and of the kind that had occurred in 1935 when the School was founded.