Editing Winter of Discontent (section)

==Effect on general election==
[[File:Margaret Thatcher at White House.jpg|thumb|[[Margaret Thatcher]], who won the [[1979 United Kingdom general election|1979 general election]] and became Prime Minister]]
The strikes appeared to have a profound effect on voting intention. According to [[Gallup, Inc.|Gallup]], Labour had a lead of 5 percentage points over the Conservatives in November 1978, which turned to a Conservative lead of 7.5 percentage points in January 1979, and of 20 percentage points in February. On 1 March, referendums on [[devolution in the United Kingdom|devolution]] to Scotland and Wales were held. That in Wales went strongly against devolution; that in Scotland produced a small majority in favour which did not reach the threshold set by Parliament of 40 per cent of that electorate. The government's decision not to press ahead with devolution immediately led the [[Scottish National Party]] to withdraw support from the government and on 28 March in a [[1979 vote of no confidence in the Callaghan ministry|motion of no confidence the government lost by one vote]], precipitating a [[1979 United Kingdom general election|general election]].

[[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]] leader [[Margaret Thatcher]] had already outlined her proposals for restricting trade union power in a [[party political broadcast]] on 17 January in the middle of the lorry drivers' strike. During the election campaign the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]] made extensive use of the disruption caused during the strike.<ref>{{harvp|López|2014|pages=179–181}}</ref> One broadcast on 23 April began with the Sun's headline "Crisis? What Crisis?" being shown and read out by an increasingly desperate voiceover interspersed with film footage of piles of rubbish, closed factories, picketed hospitals and locked graveyards. The scale of the Conservatives' victory in the general election has often been ascribed to the effect of the strikes, as well as their "[[Labour Isn't Working]]" campaign, and the party used film of the events of the winter in election campaigns for years to come.