Ullsten Cabinet

43rd Cabinet of Sweden
Date formed18 October 1978
Date dissolved12 October 1979
People and organisations
Head of stateCarl XVI Gustaf
Head of governmentOla Ullsten
Member partyLiberal People's Party
Status in legislatureSingle-party centre-right minority government
Opposition partySocial Democrats
Left Party - the Communists
Opposition leaderOlof Palme
History
Legislature term(s)1976-1979
Outgoing formationResignation following 1979 general election
PredecessorThorbjörn Fälldin's First Cabinet
SuccessorThorbjörn Fälldin's Second Cabinet

The cabinet of Ola Ullsten (Swedish: Regeringen Ullsten) was the cabinet and Government of Sweden from 18 October 1978 to 12 October 1979.

The cabinet was a single-party minority government consisting of the Liberal People's Party. The cabinet was led by Prime Minister Ola Ullsten who was asked to form a minority government by the Speaker of the Riksdag after several failed attempts to form an active/inactive majority cabinet. The cabinet was the first cabinet consisting only of the Liberal People's Party since 1932 and is also the only one since then (as of January 2024).

The cabinet resigned on 12 October 1979 following the 1979 general election to make way for a coalition majority government led by Thorbjörn Fälldin. The cabinet was succeeded by Thorbjörn Fälldin's Second Cabinet.

Policy

The Swedish nuclear energy program had been enacted by the Riksdag in 1975 which entailed an expansion to 13 nuclear power plants in total by 1985. The Riksdag had also decided that energy policy was to be re-evaluated in 3 years and that the safety of nuclear power was to be investigated. The previous Fälldin Cabinet had instated a committee with the task of evaluating nuclear safety. Minister for Energy Carl Tham was working on drafting a government bill regarding energy policy, with Social Democrats Ingvar Carlsson and Birgitta Dahl following his work closely. Both the Social Democratic and Moderate parties held positive views regarding nuclear power and it was assumed that the government wouldn't have any difficulties passing the bill.

However, everything changed following the Three Mile Island accident. While Olof Palme, the Social Democratic leader, had criticized the Fälldin cabinet for unnecessarily delaying the expansion of nuclear power in the past, Palme and his party did a complete turn-around on the issue, demanding a popular referendum to decide the future of nuclear power on 4 April 1979.[1] During the remainder of the spring, the parties discussed how a popular referendum was to be performed and what choices voters would have. Eventually, it was decided that voters would be able to pick three choices, all of which revolved around abolishing nuclear power at various rates.

Ingemar Mundebo, the Minister for the Economy and the Budget, was working on a proposal to lower the marginal tax rate and enact an upper limit to the tax. The government expected the proposition to pass with the support of the Centre Party and Moderates. In the spring of 1979, however, the Centre Party voted against the proposal, since they found inconsistencies in financing the proposal. The bill, thus, did not pass.

In December 1978 it was revealed that while Sweden was supporting the East Timor independence movement, the government was simultaneously allowing the export of arms to the occupying Indonesian forces. The Minister of Commerce and Industry Hadar Cars stated that this was completely allowed.

The government also managed to pass several reforms, such as increased parental insurance, corporate tax reforms, and a new education plan (Lgr80). Child corporal punishment was legally abolished during the reign of the Ullsten cabinet.[2]

[3][4]

Ministers

PortfolioMinisterTookofficeLeftofficeParty
Prime Minister18 October 197812 October 1979 Liberals
Deputy Prime Minister18 October 197812 October 1979 Independent
Minister for Foreign Affairs18 October 197812 October 1979 Liberals
Minister of Economics/Minister for the Budget18 October 197812 October 1979 Liberals
Minister for Education18 October 197812 October 1979 Liberals
Minister for Justice18 October 197812 October 1979 Independent
Minister for Health and Social Affairs18 October 197812 October 1979 Liberals
Minister for Employment18 October 197812 October 1979 Liberals
Minister for Agriculture
Eric Enlund
18 October 197812 October 1979 Liberals
Minister for Defence
Lars De Geer
18 October 197812 October 1979 Liberals
Minister for Communications18 October 197812 October 1979 Liberals
Minister for Physical Planning and Local Government
Bertil Hansson
18 October 197812 October 1979 Liberals
Minister for Housing18 October 197812 October 1979 Liberals
Minister for Enterprise
Erik Huss
18 October 197812 October 1979 Liberals
Minister of Commerce and Industry18 October 197812 October 1979 Liberals
Minister for Migration and Gender Equality18 October 197812 October 1979 Liberals
Minister for Energy18 October 197812 October 1979 Liberals

References

  1. Peterson, Thage G. (2002). Olof Palme som jag minns honom. Stockholm: Bonnier. ISBN 91-0-058042-2.
  2. "Sverige först i världen med förbud av barnaga". Sveriges Radio (in Swedish). 2015-04-13. Retrieved 2020-01-16.
  3. "När Ullsten bildade regering". gd.se (in Swedish). 2010-11-28. Retrieved 2020-01-16.
  4. "Ullsten: »Allting vi gjorde var smartare«". Fokus (in Swedish). 2019-01-18. Retrieved 2020-01-16.
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