The 1976 IMF Crisis in Britain – Fifty Years On

Venue: Europe House, 32 Smith Square, London SW1P 3EU
Date: Thursday, 10 September
Time: 6-8pm

Latest in our series of joint Westminster seminars ‘The 1976 IMF crisis in Britain – Fifty years on: What happened then? Is it relevant now?

The European Parliament Liaison Office in the United Kingdom (EPLO UK) and the Sir Edward Heath Charitable Foundation (EHCF) cordially invite you to the latest in our series of joint Westminster seminars.

This event is free to attend, but please register in advance.

Johan Van Overtveldt
Member of the European Parliament; Chair of the EP Budgets Committee
Prof. Kathleen Burk
Professor Emerita, UCL; co-author of ‘Goodbye Britain: The 1976 IMF Crisis’
Lord Roger Liddle
Special Adviser in the Callaghan government, 1976-79; now a Labour peer
Sir Peter Riddell
Economics correspondent, Financial Times, in 1976; former Director, Institute for Government.

To mark the fiftieth anniversary of one of the most dramatic episodes in Britain’s post-war economic history, EPLO UK and the EHCF are holding a joint seminar on the currency and sovereign debt crisis that hit Britain in the summer and autumn of 1976, leading to a bailout from the IMF worth about $ 23 billion in current terms. The event will explore the nature of the IMF crisis (both economically and politically), the lessons that were learned from it (both in Britain and continental Europe) at the time, and its relevance to issues of economic management today, half a century later.

The panel discussion will be followed by a reception with refreshments.