Do you agree with the view that the government of Edward Heath was primarily a failure free essay sample

Even before Heath had become Prime Minister, he had promised to change Britain for the better compared to the post-1945 consensus. After being named the ‘Selsdon man’ and the 1970 conference, Heath symbolised a new era in British politics. However, he faced many problems as PM and had to abandon his revolutionary policies before his collapse in the 1974 election. Heath symbolised a new era of Conservative politics which broke the 1945 consensus of tight economic controls. This caused the Labour party to accusing Heath of abandoning the mixed economy and as source 4 states, bringing the economy ‘to the edge of bankruptcy and breakdown’. This extract from the Labour party manifesto claims that the economy was suffering under Heath, ‘more and more people are losing their jobs’. This was certainly true as after only 18 months, Heath had to perform a U-turn. Inflation had risen to 15% causing firms to go out of business. As a result Heath reintroduced price controls. We will write a custom essay sample on Do you agree with the view that the government of Edward Heath was primarily a failure? or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Wages were frozen and interest rates rose incredibly. Source 5 agrees with source 4 in saying ‘all the vital indicators continued to move in the wrong direction’. The credibility of source 5 is hard to question as it was written by a modern historian and they had the gift of hindsight. However, source 4 is questionable as it was taken from the Labour party manifesto right before the election so it can be said that this was just in favour of votes. These tight economic controls led to a wage freeze. This was Heath’s first and, some say, final downfall. Because of the wage freeze, ‘industrial relations had never been worse’. The National Union of Miners began a strike in 1972, with 1. 5 million workers striking on one day. Heath refused to give into union demands as he believed that he could out last the unions. However, the miners’ strike caused coal shortages which led to regular power cuts. The introduction of the three-day week shows the seriousness of the situation. It seemed Heath was prepared to sacrifice the economy than negotiate with the miners. However, eventually Heath gave in to the miners resulting in a 21% wage increase. As source 5 says, the government was ‘humiliated’. Heath was largely to blame for this failure and in an attempt to curb union power; he set up the Industrial Relations Act in 1971. However, this simply didn’t work because the unions had to agree to it, which they inevitably didn’t. Despite his many failures, Heath had some successes. He managed to gain access to Europe by joining the EEC in 1973; 10 years after Britain had previously applied. Source 6 says it was ‘a major change in British history’. However, source 4 and 5 disagree with this view with 5 claiming that the economy worsened. The deal Heath made was ridiculous. He had told his cabinet member to accept any terms as he believed that these could be renegotiated after they entered. One of the worst repercussions was the loss of cheap food prices from the Commonwealth. Furthermore, some say that it wasn’t Heath’s victory as Britain’s main opponent to joining the EEC was President de Gaulle and as he was no longer President, success seemed more likely. However much Heath failed, his attempt to curb the unions was the start of a new attitude towards them. Source 6 says that this was ‘the first real attempt’. This was written by modern historians and can be fairly accurate with hindsight. Despite Heath’s successes, his government was primarily a failure. The economy was worse off when he left office and his attempt to break the post-1945 consensus failed, suggesting that this is not a good idea. Furthermore, his reputation as a politician was largely damaged by the strikes in 1972 and his inability to deal with them. I agree with the view that Heath’s government was primarily a failure as it reduced Britain’s independence by joining the EEC, worsened the economy and marked the beginning of a new era of sour relations with the unions.