John Robinson's ‘State’ for the General Election of 1774

This note prints two documents of the 1774 general election compiled by John Robinson, secretary to the treasury. One is a list of the old house of commons in the summer of 1774, prior to its dissolution. MPs are listed, from the government standpoint, as Pro, Hopeful, Doubtful and Con. The other document is a list of the constituencies with the same political designations for MPs, both for the existing house of commons and the expected new House: no names are given for actual or prospective MPs. The election saw an unusually large number of contests, with 183 seats at stake in 102 constituencies, a higher total than has hitherto been known.     

‘A Rather Novel Constitutional Experiment’: The Formation of the 1977–8 ‘Lib‐Lab Pact’

By March 1977, the Labour government which had narrowly been re‐elected in the October 1974 election, had lost its parliamentary majority, and was facing a vote of confidence tabled by the Conservative opposition. Senior Labour figures thus desperately sought to secure support from one of the minor parties. Unable to broker a deal with either the Ulster Unionists or the Scottish National Party (SNP), largely due to ideological differences, the Labour leadership entered into negotiations with the Liberal leader, David Steel. The result was that the Liberal Party agreed to provide the Labour government with parliamentary support, in return for consultation, via a joint committee, over future policies, coupled with the reintroduction of devolution legislation, and a pledge to provide for direct elections for the European parliament (ideally using some form of proportional representation). There was some surprise that Steel had not pressed for more, or stronger, policy commitments or concessions from the Labour prime minister, James Callaghan, but Steel was thinking long term; he envisaged that Liberal participation in the joint consultative committee would foster closer co‐operation between Liberals and Labour moderates/social democrats, and eventually facilitate a realignment of British politics by marginalising both the Labour left, and the increasingly right‐wing Conservatives Party.