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The Labour Party, led by Harold Wilson and then James Callaghan as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, governed the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from 1974 until 1979. The end of Callaghan’s ministry was marked by the Winter of Discontent, a period of serious industrial discontent. This was followed by the election of Conservative Margaret Thatcher in 1979. See also First Wilson ministry for the 1964-1970 period. ==Formation== After the February 1974 general election, no party had a majority of seats. The incumbent Conservative party won the popular vote, but Labour took the most seats. Edward Heath, the Conservative prime minister, attempted to negotiate a coalition with the Liberal party, but resigned as prime minister after failing in this regard. The Labour Party, led by Harold Wilson, then established a minority government, which took office on 4 March 1974. It was generally recognised that this had no long-term stability, and that another general election was likely within a few months. Wilson called another general election for 10 October, and won by a majority of three seats. The economy was in recession by the time of the first election, but economic growth was re-established by 1976, although inflation which had run into double digits before Labour came to power was now above 20%. It would remain high for the rest of this government, rarely falling below 10%. Unemployment was now well in excess of 1 million, whereas it had been less than 600,000 at the start of the decade. This was the result of the economic decline, as well as advancing engineering techniques which required fewer personnel, along with other factors including the closure of uneconomic factories and coalmines. In March 1976, having just turned 60, Wilson resigned as prime minister, ending 13 years as Labour Party leader and a total of nearly eight years as prime minister. He was replaced by James Callaghan, who had held senior government roles during both of Wilson's spells as prime minister and had been a shadow cabinet member in the early 1960s. Within a year of Callaghan taking office, the narrow Labour majority was eliminated due to by-election defeats, prompting a vote of confidence which prevented the government's collapse and a general election from being called. In order to sustain the government, Labour formed the Lib-Lab pact in March 1977 and this remained in force for 16 months. This minority government also managed to stay in power with unofficial deals with the Ulster Unionist Party and Scottish National Party. By September 1978, economic growth was firmly re-established and inflation was below 10%, although unemployment now stood at a postwar high of 1.5million and with most of the opinion polls showing a clear Labour lead it was widely expected that prime minister James Callaghan would call a general election that autumn, despite having another year to do so, in order to gain a majority and give his government the chance of surviving in office until 1983. However, he resisted these calls and Britain began 1979 with Labour still in power and Callaghan still in charge, but his failure to call a general election during the autumn of 1978 would prove to be the undoing of this Labour government. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Labour Government 1974–79」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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