Britain in the 1970s: Economic Crisis and the Resurgence of Radicalism

The world recession of the 1970s did not qualitatively alter the character of British political life. Instead, it threw into sharper relief issues and processes that have long been of central concern to British politicians and their electorates. For most of this century politics in Britain have been dominated by the problems of an ailing economy, and at least since the war electorates have come to measure their governments primarily against the benchmark of economic performance. Indeed, both governments and party support have been persistent casualities of that measuring exercise. No government since 1959 has managed to win the general election with which its first full five-year term of office closed, and neither of the major political parties has managed to reverse permanently the long-term loss of electoral support. In 1951 the Conservative and Labour Parties together captured 96.6 per cent of all the votes cast. By October 1974 they could only manage to capture 75 per cent1; and at the heart of that loss has been the growing alienation of voters from politicians who have repeatedly failed to deliver that economic regeneration which they had so regularly promised in their pursuit of government office.