Whilst Heath was in power, he took Britain into the European Union which later would deeply divide the Conservative Party. Direct rule had to be placed on Northern Ireland because of the violence that occurred because of The Troubles. After this, the Ulster Unionist Party stopped supporting the Conservative Party at Westminster. A miner's strike and rising inflation in 1973 caused Heath to start the three-day working week to ration power. The February 1974 General Election caused a hung parliament and Labour was in power until 1979.