Strikes: How can we avoid a return to the 1970s?
The Briefing Room
BBC
4.8 • 731 Ratings
🗓️ 15 December 2022
⏱️ 30 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In the 1970s the UK was gripped by double-digit inflation driven by energy price shocks. Inflation was controlled by raising interest rates as a recession raged. And that prompted workers to demand higher wages. Sound familiar?
This week and next will see rail workers, ambulance staff, nurses, bus drivers, baggage handlers, highway workers, Border Force, driving examiners and the Royal Mail all striking on various days. As things stand, the prospects of a resolution don’t look promising. So are we heading back to the 70s and another "Winter of Discontent’?
Joining David Aaronovitch in The Briefing Room are:
Keith Laybourn, Professor of History at the University of Huddersfield Alex Bryson, Professor of Quantitative Social Science at UCL's Social Research Institute Gemma Tetlow, Chief Economist at the Institute for Government Chris Giles, Economics Editor at the Financial Times
Producers: Ben Carter and Kirsteen Knight Editor: Simon Watts Studio manager: Neil Churchill Production co-ordinators: Sophie Hill and Siobhan Reed
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:06.4 | I'm David O'Ronovich, welcome to the briefing room, the space in the metaverse where you, me, the top experts, and a big subject, get together for 28 minutes. |
| 0:16.1 | This week, in October, the UK lost 417,000 working days due to labour strikes, the highest number for more than 10 years. |
| 0:26.9 | Numbers for November and December aren't going to make pretty reading either. |
| 0:31.0 | Is Britain heading back to the turbulent 70s? |
| 0:36.9 | Double-digit inflation driven in part by energy price shocks, another interest rate rise |
| 0:42.9 | and strikes seemingly everywhere. |
| 0:45.4 | It's winter and there's a lot of discontent. |
| 0:48.6 | People are saying it's the 70s revisited. |
| 0:51.7 | But is it? |
| 0:53.8 | Step inside the briefing room and together we'll find out. |
| 1:00.9 | First, we love a history lesson on this show. So how significant were the strikes of the |
| 1:06.8 | 70s, how important were the unions, and what did Margaret Thatcher's government do about it? |
| 1:12.5 | Joining me in the briefing room is Keith Laborn, Professor of History at the University of Huddersfield. |
| 1:18.2 | Keith Laban, take me back to the 1970s. Back then, how significant a force were the trade unions? |
| 1:24.4 | Well, at that stage, the trade unions were probably at their height. They had by the end of the |
| 1:29.0 | 70s more than 13 million members, twice the number they've got now, which was about at that time, |
| 1:34.0 | about 45% of the workforce, so it's pretty substantial. How easy was it to call a strike |
| 1:41.2 | if you were at a union? In the 70s, basically, most strikes were unofficial. |
| 1:47.3 | After 2,000 strikes, perhaps 17 or 1,800 were unofficial. |
| 1:50.6 | People this went out. |
| 1:51.9 | For the official strikes, all you needed was a meeting effectively. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.