From rubbish piled high to hospital closures and endless strike chaos… THIS is what Britain looked like the last time Labour’s hard-Left were in charge, Jeremy
A LEAKED draft of Jeremy Corbyn’s hard-Left manifesto has revealed plans to renationalise the railways, energy companies and Royal Mail.
His socialist blueprint for power harks back to 1970s Labour governments who were plagued by high inflation, low growth and irresponsible trade union power.
So has Jeremy forgotten what life was like for Brits between 1974 and 1979?
Striking photographs show the effects of the colossal strike action as huge bags of rubbish fill London’s Leicester Square, young men desperately seek employment at local job centres and dozens of police hold back feuding workers.
Harold Wilson became Prime Minister on March 4, 1974. In the following year, inflation peaked at an abysmal 26.9 per cent – in March 2017 it stood at 2.3 per cent.
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WHAT IS INFLATION?
Inflation is one of the most important issues in economics.
It is the rate of increase in prices for goods and services.
It influences the interest rate we get on our savings and the rate we pay on our mortgage.
It also affects the level of pensions.
There are a number of different measures of inflation in use.
The most significant ones are the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) and Retail Prices Index (RPI).
In 1974, employment was in excess of one million people, whereas it had been less than 600,000 at the start of the decade.
In an attempt to bring down this figure, the government had agreed a "social contract" with the TUCs in which the payrises for public sector workers were held at limits set by Parliament. The policy was rolled out in four stages.
Phases I and II, announced in July 1975, proposed a rise of £6 a week for all workers earning below £8,500 annually.
On March 16, 1976 Britain was stunned by Wilson’s shock resignation – with him succeeded by former Foreign Secretary James Callaghan.
Phase II of the proposal was agreed in May of that year and stated pay increases would be limited to a maximum of £4 per week for the following 12 months.
Phase III saw the Chancellor of the Exchequer Denis Healey reintroduce free collective bargaining – workers being able to agree pay rises with their bosses without Government involvement.
But the trade unions agreed to stick to Phase II increases.
Tories criticised the power of the unions and the lack of any stricter policy going forwards.
By 1978 inflation had fallen below ten per cent.
In July of that year, Healey announced guidelines that payrises should be capped at five per cent.
The TUC were infuriated by the limit as inflation had decreased. They rejected the proposals and demanded the free collective bargaining they had been promised.
In late 1978, after being forced into taking a £2.3billion IMF loan, the Government was also facing the Winter of Discontent.
Nearly 60,000 workers at Ford of Britain car plant, a major government contractor, had gone on strike in October of that year.
They only returned to work once a 17 per cent pay rise had been agreed.
This set the precedent for other industry sectors, including firemen, lorry drivers, railway staff and hospital workers who walked out in their droves, causing significant disruption to everyday life.
The army were put on standby to take over from tanker drivers who eventually settled on a 15 per cent rise.
WHAT WAS THE 1976 IMF CRISIS?
The IMF Crisis took place during Jim Callaghan’s term as Prime Minister.
The government was forced to borrow £2.3billion from the International Monetary Fund - the largest loan ever requested.
It caused the Bank of England to withdraw temporarily from the foreign exchange market.
The loan meant the UK economy could be stabilised whilst drastic budget cuts were implemented.
In June 1976, the pound had reached a record low against the dollar.
During the lorry crisis, Callaghan’s relaxed attitude appeared out of touch with the British public.
He famously told the media after returning from a business trip: “I don’t think that other people in the world would share the view that there is mounting chaos.”
This lead The Sun to run the famous front page: "Crisis? What Crisis?"
In all, 29.5million working days were lost to strikes in 1979.
Possibly the most notorious industrial action during the Winter of Discontent was the strike of grave diggers around Liverpool and Manchester.
With 80 grave diggers on strike in total, Liverpool City Council hired a factory in Speke to store the corpses until they could be buried.
Some 150 bodies were stored at any one point, with 25 added every day.
The public feared what would happen if strike action continued with speculation burials at sea would be considered.
After a fortnight’s strike, the grave diggers settled on a 14 per cent rise.
The bin men walkout saw streets, local parks and even London’s Leicester Square used as rubbish dumps. The mounds of filth were infested with rats.
They eventually settled on an 11 per cent rise.
The strikes, dismal leadership and relationship breakdown with the unions had a profound effect on the voting public.
After the withdrawal of SNP support for the government, the Conservatives put down a vote of no confidence, which was held and passed on March 28, 1979, forcing a General Election.
Margaret Thatcher entered Number 10 in May 1979.