1979-87

• Margaret Thatcher wanted:

  • smaller government
  • fewer economic controls
  • greater independence of the individual from the state

  -> with these reforms, era of consensus politics was over.
• Thatcher was PM from 1979-90
• Thatcher won 3 consecutive general elections in 1979, 1983 + 1987
• 1983 - landslide 144 seat majority after Thatcher’s decisive action in 1982 Falklands War, by leading Britain to victory.
• 1982 Falklands War - 10 week undeclared war between Argentina and the UK over 2 British dependant territories the South Atlantic.
• Thatcherism - New Right with aspects of neoliberalism
• Rejection of PWC + One-Nation Conservatism

  • Thatcher’s rejection of the post war consensus meant that she abandoned her predecessors’ commitment to full employment + believed this was not the responsibility of the government but the responsibility of individuals looking for work.
  • Thatcherism promotes individualism + self-sufficiency
• Reduction of the state

  • believed that the role of the state should diminish so that the role of the free market can increase.
  • a reaction against excessive welfare spending + excessive trade union power.
• Economic policies:

  • base interest rate was raised to 30% in 1979 - to try and bring down inflation -> but inflation peaked at 20% in 1980
  • 1979 budget - Thatcher wanted to reduce government spending -> introduced monetarist policies which controlled money supply to reduce inflation + lead to economic growth
  • 1981 budget - further introduced monetarist policies - Chancellor Geoffrey Howe went against keynesian economics by cutting spending during a recession - increased unemployment but reduce inflation which was viewed as a priority by government
• Privatisation:

  • Loan Guarantee Scheme 1981 - made it easier for smaller businesses to borrow money
  • Enterprise Allowance Scheme 1983 - encouraged unemployed to start their own businesses + provided £40/week for up to a year to get new businesses off the ground
  • Privatisation of British Telecom 1984 - over 2 million people bought shares in the company
  • Privatisation of British Gas 1986
• Thatcher was re-elected 3 times for PM:

  • she came form a middle-class family which was liked by the public as previous PMs had come from upper-class families
  • daughter of a grocer -> the public were proud of Thatcher as she came from a middle-class background
  • 1951 - Conservative dominance
  • 1979 - Thatcher's dominance for 11 years
• PWC policies that ended with Thatcher:

  • believed that PWC produced a 'nanny state' Britain overly dependant on welfarism
  • free market capitalism
  • wanted individuals to take responsibility for their own actions
  • supportive of police + wanted law + order issues to be solved = much tougher on law
• Deregulation:

  1986 - deregulation of banks, financial services and the city of London - proved successful in establishing London as the global centre for financial services

  -> Some believe the malpractice of banking led to the banking crisis of 2008
• Home ownership:

  Housing Act 1980 - allowed council tenants to buy council homes at a significantly discounted price

  1987 - more than a million homes were sold to tenants under this scheme -> allowing more people to get onto the housing ladder - Labour opposed this scheme on the grounds that it was depleting council housing stock

  Council were ordered to use profits of council house sales to reduce debts - not using finances in a productive way e.g bettered infrastructure
• Trade Unions:

  Employment Act 1980 - outlawed secondary action by trade unions -law broken during 1980s e.g Miner's Strike 1984/85

  Employment Act 1982 - further limited power of trade unions, specifically banned 'political strikes' + limited grounds upon which workers could go on strike + act was also important as it made workers responsible for damages caused + unions could be fined up to £250,000

  LGSM - Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners - shows how other organisations came togther to support miner's strikes
• Poll Tax was first introduced in Scotland in 1989 and then rolled out to the rest of the UK, known as the 'community charge'.

  Poll Tax is based on the idea of all individuals paying the same amount, rather than households paying based on the value of their property.
• Poll Tax resulted in people living alone seeing their local taxes reduce, while larger households saw significant increases in their tax bill.
• Support for the Conservative party in Scotland reduced and increased support for independence following the introduction of Poll Tax.
• Education:

  Education Reform Act 1988 - Section 28, prevented 'promotion of homosexuality'

  • major piece of legislation that introduced marketisation principles into state education, among many provisions e.g introduction of SATs and league tables
• Defence:

  1982 - government purchased new nuclear weapons, establishing Trident nuclear submarine programme

  • Labour was in favour of unilateral nuclear disarmament, providing a very clear difference between the two main parties.