Unsafe Foundations. A British 1970s Timeline

nezza

Sorry for the delay
"My first major piece of legislation as Constitutional Affairs Secretary was to deal with the Devolution Acts which were a quid pro quo from to keep the Liberals support. For Wales and Scotland it was relatively simple. Parliaments in Edinburgh and Cardiff would take responsibility for everything except Foreign, Defence and the vast majority of tax-raising. It was known in shorthand as Devo Max. For Northern Ireland however it was very different"

(John Smith, "Tartan Spirit" 1997)
 

nezza

John Smith's road to 10 Downing Street was paved by battles and incredible strength of wills. He and Michael Foot were close friends and were equally interested in creating a better balance of power in the UK. His role as Constitutional Affairs Secretary was to oversee the "federalisation" of the UK. It wasn't a concern of Denis Healey who had a huge amount on his plate so Smith like Jenkins had his own fiefdom in government"

(Cole, 1995)
 

nezza

Hi everyone I'm going to end this TL here. To be honest I've developed writer's block. But you've been brilliant in all the replies so I'll wrap it up.

The coalition government ran from 1980 to 1984. The Falklands War never happened because Healy ordered a submarine to the area. The Federation Act came into law on the 1st of January 1983 with Scotland and Wales taking control of everything except foreign affairs, defence affairs and 98% of taxation. Northern Ireland's woes continued until 1987 when a devastating series of tit for tat bombings in London and Belfast by the IRA and in Dublin by the UDA led to the first stirrings of the peace process. Successive governments in both the UK the Republic embarked on a series of meeting both with each other and with the loyalists and republicans in a series of undercover assignations. In 1993 the IRA and Loyalists declared ceasefires and in 1999 Northern Ireland became a special joint administrative region of both the UK and ROI.

Labour won the most number of seats in 1984 and formed a third coalition with the Liberals. Healy stepped down in 1986 due ill health. Jenkins won the leadership election and opened talks with the Liberals over a merger. Despite defections to the TTS and a new "True Liberals" both parties merged with the Demcons to form the Democratic National Party (DNP)

PRIME MINISTERS
Denis Healey 1980-1986 Labour
Roy Jenkins 1986-1987 Labour
1987-1990 DNP
Norman Tebbitt 1990-1994 Conservative
John Smith 1994-2004 DNP
Margaret Beckett 2004-2008 DNP
William Hague 2008-2010 Conservative
David Milliband 2010-20?? DNP

THE END.
 

Ramontxo

Donor
Thanks very much, too many (very) good time lines end without providing an explanation of its intended outcome. Now if in the future you want to reboot this...
 
Last edited:

Deleted member 94680

It’s a shame to see it go, but it was really good while it lasted. Thanks for sharing it with us
 
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