[3] As long as exchange controls remained in place, the amount of money British citizens could take out of the UK was severely limited.
[1] In 1966[5] the Labour Government of Prime Minister Harold Wilson restricted the amount of currency that British holidaymakers could take out of the country to £50[6] plus £15 in sterling cash.
[4] Exchange controls in the UK were abolished by the Conservative Government of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in October 1979.
It is right to give an additional degree of freedom to allow the pound to operate in the world unrestricted by restraints of this kind.” [2] Abolition was welcomed by business, and criticised by the opposition Labour Party.
They have done a lot of harm to London as one of the leading financial centres.” Conversely, the abolition of exchange controls was criticised by Labour's Shadow Chancellor Denis Healey, who warned of the danger of increased foreign investment at the expense of British industry.