otherwise, he could not have escaped censure. The tribunal's findings, published in July 1967, placed responsibility for the disaster firmly on the National Coal Board, specifically on the absence of any tipping policy. Later career Rift with Labour In December 1966, Davies introduced a bill to the House of Commons, to provide more generous compensation to miners suffering from dust-related diseases. The bill was accepted by Harold Wilson's Labour government, and became law in 1967. This was one of the few instances during this period in which Davies and the Labour government worked together. Following the Coal Board's refusal to meet the full cost of removing the remaining Aberfan tips, Wilson proposed that part of the required £750,000 be met by the disaster fund set up to help the people of Aberfan rebuild their community. Davies was outraged; he told Wilson: "I have never known a prime minister to behave so disgracefully in all my 34 years in the House of Commons". Subsequently, Davies opposed the 1969 decision of Merthyr Tydfil Council to award Wilson the freedom of the borough, stating that he would boycott the ceremony. While many constituents supported Davies in his frequent attacks on government policies, the local Labour Party became increasingly concerned by his activities. By the late 1960s, many of them were from a younger generation, with no experience of the shared hardships of the 1920s and 1930s, and with a less parochial mindset. They were angered by what they perceived as Davies's disloyalty to the Wilson government, elected in 1964 after thirteen years of opposition, and his penchant for following his own agenda. There was also the question of his age; in 1970, he was supposedly 83, but rumours that he was older were widespread. By March 1970, the local party discussed replacing Davies as their candidate at the next general election, citing his age, rather than policy disagreements. The National Executive of the party sanctioned this action, and at a special meeting on 10 May, which Davies declined to attend, he was formally deselected. 1970 election Davies reacted to his deselection by announcing that the people of Merthyr, not the local Labour Party, would decide his future. If physically fit he would contest the next election as an Independent Socialist. Friends advised him not to risk humiliation; no deselected candidate in recent times had won election against the party machine, and Davies would,