1979
1983
Howe's majority was secure, and he set his path towards the "Great Debate" (his name for a series of referenda held on the same day about devolution).
The referenda held in the south-east, which would set up devolved assemblies for Essex, Sussex, Anglia and Kent, went through thanks to the "Yes" campaign's effectiveness at campaigning, pointing to successes in the North and west, and even abroad.
However, in the Midlands, the referenda failed thanks to Howe's growing unpopularity, unpopular divisions of the region and a strong "No" campaign.
The growing unpopularity of the government in the Midlands was due to unpopular agricultural policies and a perception that Howe was disconnected from Midlands reality. This was made worse by the fact that the south-east received devolution while the Midlands did not.
Some Midlands rural MPs expressed their concern about National unpopularity in the Midlands, but Howe chose to ignore them, focusing on the budget and (as expected by Callaghan) how to cut it down. Moderates in the National Party were outraged, and some was not satsified by his excuse (Assemblies are the new way for domestic policy). Those two discontented factions mostly stayed in the party, but eight rebellious MPs chose to leave, inspired by the Socialist Party's exit from the Democrats. The Country Party was born, a moderate economic and agrarian party led by Douglas Hurd, the most prominent of the defectors.
Upon hearing the news of the new Country Party, Howe was shaken. Polls before this was showing a smaller lead over the SDP and Howe was concerned that he would lose his majority thanks to the Country Party. So he called a snap election in 1987, hoping that the Country Party's infrastructure would be underdeveloped enough to prevent much seats from being lost. Howe's gamble would be proven right, as he held his majority, but a far smaller one. Liberals won many seats in the Midlands thanks to National unpopularity and Country splitting.
The Socialist Party under Arthur Scargill was losing its popularity, as Howe managed to come to a compromise with unions (despite his distrust of them) establishing Harold Wilson's planned labour relations board, and the growing SDP was taking votes away from the Socialists. Scargill himself increasingly spent more time at the Yorkshire Assembly than Westminster due to having more influence in the earlier. Some Socialist MPs started calling for a merger into the SDP, but this call wouldn't be answered until after the next election.
James Callaghan privately decided not to lead the SDP into the next election, resigning in 1989 after a leadership election to elect his successor, while David Penhaligon decided to retire in 1990 after his most successful election.
The election of 1992 would bring a change to Britain.