 In the Labour Government of 1974 Benn was Secretary of State for Industry and as such increased nationalised industry pay , provided better terms and conditions for workers such as the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and was involved in setting up worker cooperatives in firms which were struggling , the best known being at Meriden , outside Coventry , producing Triumph Motorcycles . In 1975 he was appointed Secretary of State for Energy , immediately following his unsuccessful campaign for a " No " vote in the referendum on the UK 's continued membership of the European Community ( Common Market ) . Later in his diary ( 25 October 1977 ) Benn wrote that he " loathed " the EEC ; he claimed it was " bureaucratic and centralised " and " of course it is really dominated by Germany . All the Common Market countries except the UK have been occupied by Germany , and they have this mixed feeling of hatred and subservience towards the Germans " . 
