Selsdon Man

In its 1970 manifesto,[https://web.archive.org/web/20100110125744/http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/man/con70.htm "Not updated: British Conservative Party election manifesto, 1970"]. web.archive.org. 2010-01-10. Retrieved 2024-05-30. the Conservative Party pledged to:Ball, S., & Seldon, A. (1996). The Heath Government 1970-74: A Reappraisal (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315842790

• reduce income tax
• cut state spending
• prevent further nationalisation
• reduce the size of government
• reduce the scope of state intervention
• promote competitive free enterprise to combat inflation
• abandon Labour's compulsory wage controls
• restrict the power of trade unions

Chancellor of the Exchequer Anthony Barber cut direct taxation and public spending during his first few years in office. In an October 1970 statement, Barber announced that he would cut corporation tax, cut income tax and oversee a reduction of £330 million in public spending over the course of 1971/2.Peter Sloman, Harold Wilson, 'Selsdon Man', and the defence of social democracy in 1970s Britain, Twentieth Century British History, Volume 33, Issue 1, March 2022, Pages 80–102, https://doi.org/10.1093/tcbh/hwab028 The same statement saw a rise in NHS prescription charges and the abolition of free school milk for 7-11 year-olds.Peter Sloman, Harold Wilson, 'Selsdon Man', and the defence of social democracy in 1970s Britain, Twentieth Century British History, Volume 33, Issue 1, March 2022, Pages 80–102, https://doi.org/10.1093/tcbh/hwab028 In his 1971 budget, Barber made more than £1.1 billion worth of cuts to taxation.Peter Sloman, Harold Wilson, 'Selsdon Man', and the defence of social democracy in 1970s Britain, Twentieth Century British History, Volume 33, Issue 1, March 2022, Pages 80–102, https://doi.org/10.1093/tcbh/hwab028 Barber's 1972 budget saw a further £1 billion cut to income tax.{{Cite web |title=BBC News {{!}} BUDGET BRIEFING {{!}} Budget blunders |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/events/budget_99/budget_briefing/279928.stm |access-date=2024-05-31 |website=news.bbc.co.uk}} Barber also oversaw the abolition of the Prices and Incomes Board.Morgan, Kenneth O, 'The Heath Experiment 1970–1974', The People's Peace: British History 1945-1989 (Oxford, 1990; online edn, Oxford Academic, 22 Mar. 2012),

Heath appointed former director-general of the Confederation of British Secretary John Davies as the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry.Morgan, Kenneth O, 'The Heath Experiment 1970–1974', The People's Peace: British History 1945-1989 (Oxford, 1990; online edn, Oxford Academic, 22 Mar. 2012), Davies spoke out against subsidising the 'lame ducks' of British industry,Morgan, Kenneth O, 'The Heath Experiment 1970–1974', The People's Peace: British History 1945-1989 (Oxford, 1990; online edn, Oxford Academic, 22 Mar. 2012), aligning himself with the Conservative Party's commitment to reduce state spending and the scope of state intervention. Furthermore, the Heath government introduced introduced a new legal code to regulate trade union practices with the Industrial Relations Act of 1971.{{Cite web |title=Union expansion under a voluntary system |url=https://www.britannica.com/money/organized-labor/Union-expansion-under-a-voluntary-system |access-date=2024-05-31 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}} This act introduced the National Industrial Relations Court.{{Cite web |title=Union expansion under a voluntary system |url=https://www.britannica.com/money/organized-labor/Union-expansion-under-a-voluntary-system |access-date=2024-05-31 |website=www.britannica.com}}

By mid-1971 the Heath government had reversed much of its pledged non-interventionism in response to a sharp rise in both unemployment and inflation.Morgan, Kenneth O, 'The Heath Experiment 1970–1974', The People's Peace: British History 1945-1989 (Oxford, 1990; online edn, Oxford Academic, 22 Mar. 2012), Rolls-Royce and Upper Clyde Shipbuilders were both taken into public ownership in 1971.Ball, S., & Seldon, A. (1996). The Heath Government 1970-74: A Reappraisal (1st ed.), page 7. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315842790 The 1970 promise to avoid wage controls was abandoned by September 1972, when Heath's government introduced a compulsory prices and incomes policy.Ball, S., & Seldon, A. (1996). The Heath Government 1970-74: A Reappraisal (1st ed.), page 7. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315842790 1972 also saw John Davies removed from his role as Secretary for Trade and IndustryBall, S., & Seldon, A. (1996). The Heath Government 1970-74: A Reappraisal (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315842790 and considerable increases in public spending on health, education, and welfare.Ball, S., & Seldon, A. (1996). The Heath Government 1970-74: A Reappraisal (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315842790{{Cite news |last=Bale |first=Tim |date=2011-06-10 |title=Back in the 70s, a U-turn really was a U-turn |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/jun/10/check-out-70s-real-uturns |access-date=2024-05-31 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}

Heath ultimately failed to restrict the power of the trade unions.{{Cite web |title=History of Sir Edward Heath - GOV.UK |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/history/past-prime-ministers/edward-heath |access-date=2024-05-31 |website=www.gov.uk |language=en}} Union opposition to the measures included in the 1971 Industrial Relations Act contributed greatly to the collapse of the Heath government in 1974.{{Cite web |date=2024-05-15 |title=Trades Union Congress (TUC) {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Trades-Union-Congress-British-organization |access-date=2024-05-31 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}

Prime Minister Harold Wilson was strongly critical of the policies formulated at the Selsdon Park conference, repudiating the Conservative Party's support of free-market reform in several speeches:

What they are planning is a wanton, calculated and deliberate return to greater inequality. The new Tory slogan is: back to the free for all. A free for all in place of the welfare state. A free for all market in labour, in housing, in the social services. They seek to replace the compassionate society with the ruthless, pushing society. The message to the British people would be simple. And brutal. It would say: 'You're out on your own.'

— Harold Wilson, 6th of February, 1970Peter Sloman, Harold Wilson, 'Selsdon Man', and the defence of social democracy in 1970s Britain, Twentieth Century British History, Volume 33, Issue 1, March 2022, Pages 80–102, https://doi.org/10.1093/tcbh/hwab028

The Selsdon Group is a free-market pressure group created in 1973 to support the policies set out at the 1970 Selsdon Park Conference. The Group's website declares that its purpose is 'to promote the case for free market policies within the Conservative Party'.{{Cite web |title=The Selsdon Group - About Us |url=https://www.selsdongroup.co.uk/aboutus.htm |access-date=2024-05-31 |website=www.selsdongroup.co.uk}}

Ball, S., & Seldon, A. (1996). The Heath Government 1970-74: A Reappraisal (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315842790

Category:Political terminology in the United Kingdom