1970–74: Heath in Government

Abstract

The Heath administration, which ran from June 1970 to February 1974, was dominated by two themes. The first was the successful negotiation of Britain’s entry into the European Community and its passage through Parliament; the second was the unsuccessful series of attempts to resolve the interlocking problems of trade union power, inflation and poor productivity. It was these problems, of course, aggravated by the oil price crisis of Autumn 1973, that led to the election defeat and sense that the Heath government had ultimately failed.