The Changing Face of the British House of Commons in the 1970s

Until 1970, one party normally had a governing majority in the House of Commons, high voting cohesion existed in both major parliamentary parties, and Governments were rarely defeated in the House. In the decade of the 1970s, governing majorities declined in size and then disappeared, intra-party dissent rose markedly, and Government defeats in the division lobbies occurred frequently. These changes called into question the previously held assumptions that party discipline in the House of Commons resulted from the MPs' fears of precipitating a general election, from the power of the whips, from the expectation of party loyalty among the constituency parties, and from the Government's superior sources of information on matters of policy. A new self-reliance among MPs is likely to sustain and reinforce the movement for parliamentary reform.