General Election Vox Pops

Who won the October 1974 election? Was it Labour or was it the trade unions?

Wendy Jones asks voters in Birmingham who they voted for at the second General Election of 1974. With such a close result the responses are predictably varied. So close were the margins that the outcome could have been different if the Labour voter had gone against her husband's wishes and put a cross in the Conservative box on the ballot paper. You can almost hear Emmeline Pankhurst turning over in her grave!

The October 1974 General Election was the second of that year. Harold Wilson's Labour Party moved from minority control (after the Conservatives of Edward Heath had failed to find a coalition partner) in February to a small majority of three seats. Heath was ousted by his party the following year opening the door for a new leader of the party in Margaret Thatcher.