Political Difficulties
As the Ford strike was starting, the Labour Party conference began at Blackpool. Terry Duffy, the delegate from Liverpool Wavertree Constituency Labour Party and a supporter of Militant Tendency, moved a motion on 2 October which demanded "that the Government immediately cease intervening in wage negotiations". Despite a plea not to put the motion to the vote from Michael Foot, the resolution was carried by 4,017,000 to 1,924,000. The next day, the Prime Minister accepted the fact of defeat by saying "I think it was a lesson in democracy yesterday", but insisted that he would not let up on the fight against inflation.
Meanwhile the government's situation in the House of Commons was increasingly difficult. It had lost its majority in 1976 and had been forced to put together a pact with the Liberal Party in 1977 in order to keep winning votes, but this pact had lapsed in July 1978. The decision to grant extra Parliamentary seats to Northern Ireland ensured temporary support from the Ulster Unionist Party, but the Unionists were clear that this support would be withdrawn immediately after the Bill to grant extra seats had been passed. It was through the Ulster Unionists agreeing to abstain that the government defeated a motion of no confidence by 312 to 300 on 9 November.
Read more about this topic: Winter Of Discontent
Famous quotes containing the words political and/or difficulties:
“My business is stanching blood and feeding fainting men; my post the open field between the bullet and the hospital. I sometimes discuss the application of a compress or a wisp of hay under a broken limb, but not the bearing and merits of a political movement. I make gruel—not speeches; I write letters home for wounded soldiers, not political addresses.”
—Clara Barton (1821–1912)
“So far as my experience goes, travelers generally exaggerate the difficulties of the way. Like most evil, the difficulty is imaginary; for what’s the hurry?”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)