1979 vote of no confidence in the Callaghan ministry

The last time an election had been forced by the House of Commons was in 1924, when Ramsay MacDonald, the first Labour prime minister, lost a vote of confidence.

[3] The general election at the end of February 1974 resulted in a hung parliament where Labour had slightly more seats than any other party but no overall majority.

Labour came to power in March 1974, its leader Harold Wilson having accepted the royal invitation to form a minority government.

The Labour government implemented pay restraint to control global inflation, coupled with stagnation and unemployment at record post-war levels.

Wilson resigned in 1976 in poor health, on turning 60, and James Callaghan became leader of the Labour Party and Prime Minister.

On 1 March 1979, a referendum on the Scotland Act saw a majority vote for devolution, but a threshold imposed by anti-devolution MP George Cunningham requiring 40% of the electorate to be in favour was not reached due to low turnout.

[4] When the government decided not to implement the Act, the Scottish National Party MPs put down a motion of no confidence.

During his speech, he made a widely quoted put-down of Liberal leader David Steel, describing him as having "passed from rising hope to elder statesman without any intervening period whatsoever".

[10] James Hamilton, Labour's Scottish whip, reportedly thought for a moment that the support of two Ulster Unionist MPs would allow the government a narrow victory.

[12] Following the vote, Conservative backbenchers cheered while Labour left-wingers, led by Neil Kinnock, sang "The Red Flag".

[1][11] Before the vote, there were some discussions between Labour and the Ulster Unionist Party, including Enoch Powell, regarding a deal over a pipeline which would provide cheap energy to Northern Ireland.

Weatherill said that pairing had never been intended for votes on matters of confidence that meant the life or death of the government, and it would be impossible to find a Conservative MP who would agree to abstain.

Gerry Fitt, the leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party, was sympathetic to the Labour Party, and Frank Maguire, an independent republican MP, had supported the government on previous knife-edge votes, but both were unhappy with proposals that would increase the number of constituencies in Northern Ireland and therefore increase Unionist representation.

Parliament was not dissolved immediately after the vote; a couple of days' wash-up period was allowed for the completion of uncontroversial business, with 25 bills receiving royal assent on 2 April, including a stopgap Finance Act.