Editing Three-Day Week (section)

==Election call==
The strike began officially on 5 February and, two days later, Heath called the [[February 1974 United Kingdom general election|February 1974 general election]] while the Three-Day Week was in force. His government emphasised the pay dispute with the miners and used the slogan "Who governs Britain?".  Heath believed that the public sided with the Conservatives on the issues of strikes and union power.<ref name="StrikeNotTheEnd25"/>

On 21 February 1974, the government's Pay Board reported that the NUM's pay claim was within the Phase 3 system for claims and would return miners' wages to the levels recommended by the Wilberforce Inquiry in 1972.<ref name="StrikeNotTheEnd25"/><ref>{{cite book |last=Taylor |first=Andrew |date=1984 |title=The Politics of the Yorkshire Miners |location=London |publisher=Croom Helm |page=258 |isbn=0-7099-2447-X}}</ref>