ABSTRACT
The norms, which unfortunately came to be regarded as minima rather than average figures, have tended to be policed to some extent by a form of outside body sponsored by the government, such as the National Board on Prices and Incomes. Strong forces were set in motion to re-establish disturbed relativities and differentials, and the incomes policy was further undermined. British governments took a long time to understand the nature and extent of this process, and it is an extremely difficult process to arrest completely in a free democratic society. Any incomes policy tends to imply some judgement about the appropriate distribution of income amongst trade unionists, as no incomes policy can be neutral with respect to relative wages. If coupled with a sensible financial policy, it does seem to offer more hope to the unemployed and more of a potential solution to the wage problem than either more traditional incomes policies or monetarism.
