Come come Al.... it was the communist led unions that were responsible for that. Hence the term 'the British disease'.
Dire times. I snipped this from the Gruniad.....
Stagflation: 1973-76
The west's long postwar boom came to an end in the autumn of 1973, when the Yom Kippur war resulted in a fourfold increase in oil prices. Britain already had inflationary problems because of the Heath government's attempts to boost growth and a miners' strike led to a three-day week in early 1974.
Unemployment and inflation rose, and the annual increase in the cost of living hit a postwar peak of 26% by the summer of 1975. Until recently, this was Britain's only double-dip recession.
Manufacturing meltdown: 1980-81
Margaret Thatcher came to power in 1979 convinced that radical action was needed to reverse Britain's relative economic decline. Interest rates were raised in an attempt to tackle inflation, with the pound – already rising as a result of the UK's booming North Sea oil revenues – allowed to appreciate further on the foreign exchanges.
Even so, the annual inflation rate rose to 20% in Thatcher's first year in office and this, together with high borrowing costs and cheap imports drove 20% of manufacturing to the wall.
imo successive Lab / Tory / Lab govts succumbed to the conditions laid down by a communist agenda and led the nation down a path of bankruptcy and depression, Thatcher cured it by defeating the commies in her early years.