Who governs Britain?

Trade unions, the Conservative Party and the failure of the Industrial Relations Act 1971

Sam Warner

• Publisher: Manchester University Press
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN:
  9781526166012
• eBook ISBN:
  9781526166005
• Topic: Politica e relazioni internazionali
• Subtopic: Storia britannica moderna

Providing fresh insights from the archival record, Who governs Britain? revisits the 1970-74 Conservative government to explain why the Party tried – and failed – to reform the system of industrial relations. Designed to tackle Britain's strike problem and perceived disorder in collective bargaining, the Industrial Relations Act 1971 established a formal legal framework to counteract trade union power. As the state attempted to disengage from and 'depoliticise' collective bargaining practices, trade union leaders and employers were instructed to discipline industry. In just three-and-a-half years, the Act contributed to a crisis of the British state as industrial unrest engulfed industry and risked undermining the rule of law. Warner explores the power dynamics, strategic errors and industrial battles that destroyed this attempt to tame trade unions and ultimately brought down a government, and that shape Conservative attitudes towards trade unions to this day.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title page
• Series page
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of tables
• Acknowledgements
• List of abbreviations
• Introduction
• 1: Managing the trade unions: four themes
• 2: Planning for government
• 3: Turning strategy into action
• 4: The Act's institutions
• 5: Bringing the law into disrepute
• 6: Putting the Act ‘on ice’
• 7: Who governs Britain?
• Conclusion
• Appendix: The main provisions of the Act
• Bibliography
• Index