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Labour in Office, 1974–79

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Economic Strategy and the Labour Party

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Abstract

Labour returned to office in March 1974 and policy-making within the party received less attention than it had during the preceding years. The paucity of consideration given to internal policy matters was not surprising because Labour had adopted a new programme and now had the opportunity to implement it. Five years later when Labour lost power in May 1979, supporters of its industrial strategy were bitterly disappointed: they claimed that the government had not carried out the plans contained in Labour’s Programme 1973. In this chapter I examine the attempt to realize the Alternative Economic Strategy — as the left’s strategy was termed by 1975 — while Labour was in government. I outline the development of the legislative proposals produced by Tony Benn and others at the Department of Industry after March 1974. I look at the impact of these industrial policies in practice and I consider to what extent the party’s strategy was shaped by the difficult economic circumstances that the government encountered. I also examine the developing relationships between the Labour government and the wider party.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Bristol, UK

    Mark Wickham-Jones (Lecturer in Politics)

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© 1996 Mark Wickham-Jones

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Wickham-Jones, M. (1996). Labour in Office, 1974–79. In: Economic Strategy and the Labour Party. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230373679_7

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