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What Were the Two Greatest Sucesses and Failures of the Wilson Government

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What Were the Two Greatest Sucesses and Failures of the Wilson Government
What were the two greatest successes and two greatest failures of the Wilson government 1964-70?

This period of Labour rule is often marked down as a poor performance on behalf of the labour party, critically looked upon by many historians. There were many failings under the rule of this government however the circumstances they were placed in caused severe restraints in their options.

Wilson had been voted into government with the promise of central planning and “the white heat of new technology”, catching the mood of the moment, and making the public believe he was not just another old bumbling politician, but one who showed some promise in getting the country moving, and reinvigorating the lumbering economy. However when Wilson was appointed prime minister these issues got pushed back from the centre stage; dumped off into the newly created Department of Economic Affairs. The majority of research and development funds were being channelled into a few large scale projects which had no real impact on the economy, leaving the new department short on options and in conflict with the treasury over the power to control economic affairs. However the external image the government was giving out was promising, the signing of the National Plan by the government and the trade unions showed potential to the nation, an indication that the new leadership was active in its attempt to bring the suffering economy back to its feet. However this act in reality did very little to help, and paired with the discovery that the previous conservative establishment had played off the economic situation better than was the reality, it was clear that the labour party would have to make some big changes to how they were going to operate. In this situation the party really started to become unstuck, changes in the party manifesto were coming thick and fast. Priorities such as house building, and changes in the welfare state were postponed. Alongside an increased taxation rate and
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