Abstract
Britain already had experienced economic difficulties in the 1960s, but the concerns did not grow since the overall standard of living was keeping on rising. On the contrary, the 1970s proved to be much more worrying economically, as they presented a sluggish and lasting economic performance -the average real domestic product grew annually only by 1.9 per cent during the decade. The succeeding Conservative and Labour governments, in spite of their many attempts, were totally unable to improve the situation. This essay will concentrate on discussing the main reasons for this slow economic growth experienced by Britain in the 1970s. It will first start by considering the role of the heritage from past economic policies and the burden of inflation. Secondly, it will look at the global difficulty that British industry faced at that time. Finally, the problem of the balances of trade and of payments will be underlined as an explanation of Britain's relative decline.
