Article 4TK70 Remember: it’s austerity, not Europe, that broke Britain

Remember: it’s austerity, not Europe, that broke Britain

by
William Keegan
from Economics | The Guardian on (#4TK70)

It is hard to credit Johnson's appeal to 'left-behind' voters when it was his party that chose to leave them behind

In 1970 the prime minister, Harold Wilson, called a general election he expected to win and lost. In the 1974 "who governs Britain?" election, called by prime minister Edward Heath, opposition leader Wilson expected to lose - and won.

Heath had successfully negotiated the UK's entry to the European Economic Community in 1973, in which venture premiers Harold Macmillan (in 1963) and Wilson (in 1967) had failed. In 1974 Wilson was faced with a Labour party divided on the European question - plus ia change - and successfully went over the heads of his party to win a referendum in 1975, with a majority of two to one in favour of what we would now call Remain.

The virtual freeze in average real incomes since the 2007-08 crash, and the austerity that followed it, have manifestly contributed to discontent

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