The Winter of Discontent, the phrase that summed up economic hardship for a generation, is on people’s lips again following the Labour Party’s annual conference this week. The term, from Shakespeare’s Richard III play, became the shorthand for describing the dire conditions during harsh winter months at the end of 1978 and the beginning of 1979.

Mass pay disputes, contested by trade unions and James Callaghan, Labour prime minister at the time, led to what is believed to be the largest industrial action since the 1926 general strike. Rubbish piled high in the streets and the dead went unburied. It created a lasting image of a country on the edge.

At this year’s Labour conference, a speech calling for a general strike to bring down the Government reportedly won a standing ovation.

Labour’s economic proposals also raised questions about inflationary pressures, one of the driving forces behind the strikes of the late Seventies. Plans for the minimum wage to be raised were mooted, risks to monetary policy laid bare and a greater tax burden for businesses, which companies claim will force them to pass more costs on to consumers.