Another Thatcher Question.?

Question

Why did she close the pits, was it really to defeat the unions or because they were unprofitable and in debt.
Why did she sell the services - Gas, Electricity, B.T. etccc..., my point is this. Today, you have several telephone companies and several energy suppliers. Did she sell them off early because she knew that they would be worthless when the competition arrived, I don't understand it. She made the rich richer and the poor poorer. Is that the general story behind it. Who's policy did she copy and what other countries have / had not public services. Which countries today have public utilities companies. The last question is what would you do if you were in a position of influence to change her wrong doing or right doing - what would you do to build on her success or right her wrong. This is an impartial question and for all intents and purposes I am neither with her or against her. Sensible answers please.

Answer 1

Margaret Thatcher closed Consett steel works in 1979 which devastated the area. At that time Consett was making a healthier profit than works based by the coast and on rivers even though raw materials had to be brought inland by rail.

Thatcher was the raper and pillager of the great people of the north and all that mattered to her was keeping the rich richer and the poor poorer, creating all the problems we have all in the name of money.

Answer 2

There is a school of though that proposes that the closing of the pits and the breaking of the coal miners union was at least partly a payback for the miners holding the country to ransom in the early seventies through power cuts and the 3 day week that resulted which lost the conservatives the 1974 election. It was also strategically important to the Thatcher government to tackle the militant unions head on. The subsequent selling off of public utilities no doubt arose from Thatchers belief in a free market economy and a "share owning democracy" together with unburdening the high cost of continual government subsidising of the utilities and her belief that they were burdensome through being uncompetitive.The main model that was used as a template was probably the American free market economy model.Other countries do have public utilities though they may be privately run with governments owning a controlling share or part subsidising their operation for political or social purposes.
What would I change - I would change the degree to which some of the utilities are fragmented (eg: rail) and level of accountability and the social impacts of a pure free market economy.I would have hoped to influence the social responsibility importance in a free market economy which , as Maggie famously stated there was no such things as society, I'm not sure how successful I could have been in selling that aspect.

Answer 3

The closure of the pits was becuase she discovered nuclear energy, although an element was because she wanted to defeat the unions, she couldn't bear anyone not following her or working against her so she crushed them whatever the costs...most of which were put onto the british public.

The privatisation of BT, British Gas, electric etc was to create money for the government to pay for her disatrous economic policies. These were sold off in shares to the british public which the government collected. Companies were then invited to sell these products and compete. The idea was to give the individual more choice and cheaper amenities. In reality what has happened is gas and electric prices have shot up, on top of this people now have to pay council tax as an extra fee. We were much better off paying what were called 'rate' which covered every public service.

It is also true that thatchers policies masde the rich richer and the poor poorer as to survice in thatchers britain you had to have money behind you to even start off and become successful. What thatcher did was blame people with no money of being losers who were un prepared to work or help themselves which for the vast majority of poor people is just not true.

Thatcher was possibly the worst prime minister we have ever had and will ever have is it any wonder that any conservative MP these days shudderes at her name as they are all still suffering because of her.

Answer 4

The real reason for the pit closures was economics. Many of the pits were not making much, if any profit and were propped up and supported by more profitable mines.

Pit closures were not just done by the Thatcher gov. Pits were being closed down from the 1950s onwards - I know because I was born in 1941 and can remember a lot of this.

Both sides, Labour and the Tories, were faced with the problem of closing uneconomic pits.

An old friend of mine, who once worked in the Nottinghamshire pits told me they were pulling three tons of rock to get a ton of coal. No profit there then, when you consider your average coalface miner would be expected to shift about 8 tons a day - it much of it is plain rock there's little point in digging.

Answer 5

The Thatcher government's policies came partly from a reaction against what was then seen as the failure of the post-war consensus.

The previous governments, Conservative and Labour, had relied on a policy of creating a stable, contented society through subsidising both public services and monopoly industries through taxation. This had worked well immediately after the 2nd World War, when people were still in a culture of unselfish co-operation and used to depending on state regulation of goods and services.

But as consumer power and social freedom grew, people began to be discontented with the lack of choice and quality from some of the nationalised services, while state-subsidised industry began to be undercut by cheaper imports. Inflation grew, leading to demands for wage rises at the time they were least affordable. When government refused the wage rises, the unions brought essential services out on strike: the winter of discontent.

Against this background., Mrs Thatcher offered a vision of better choice for consumers, tough action to ensure that vital services would not be shut down by the unions, and better value from taxes. Privatising state-owned monopolies would give consumers more choice, encourage companies to offer better value and better quality services, and encourage individuals to buy shares, boosting the economy and promoting saving.

Mrs Thatcher got her ideas from Milton Friedman but it was the winter of discontent that made British voters and media think that her agenda was the right way forward.

Many of her policies - like allowing competition for radio and telecomms - seem obvious now. Who would want only one mobile phone or internet provider? But other policies were a disaster: selling off council housing without replacing the stock continues to have a devastating effect in many communities.

Answer 6

The Thatcherite campaign to close the coal mines of the UK was part of a strategy to undermine the so-called power of the Trade Unions and, in the longer term, to create "a reserve army of labour" in the Marxist sense to lower labour costs in the UK. Read Sir Alfred Sherman's (He was Thatcher's ex-Marxist economic guru.) memoirs for a justification of doing this.

Prior to Thatcher being elected I read a Conservative Party internal position document which stated quite baldy that within a few years a future Conservative government would have to take on a major public sector union, most likely to be the National Union of Miners.

The selling of the nationalised industries was part of an integrated strategy to change the cultural mindset of the UK from that of the post-WW2 social democratic consensus to one that encouraged an entrepreneurial, individualist outlook. To be fair to the Thatcherites the first sell off of nationalised assets was under a Labour government in the late 1970s, influenced in part by the same New Right thinking that so devestated the lifes of so many UK citizens under Thatcher. In effect it was an attempt at social and cultural engineering - which, in New Right thinking, was more important than long-term economic competiveness.

To answer your last question. It is wrong that any political party can be elected, and consistently reelected, by a minority of the electorate. The entire political system needs to be overhauled so that a minority cannot rule over the majority in the economic interests of the few. We need a social, politcal and economic system where ordinary people control their own lifes, where policy is discussed, determined and decided openly by all, not by elite coteries in the political greenhouses of the capital.

Answer 7

How can you have sensible answers for a women
who went against her own class (shop keepers daughter)
She decimates the working clas whilst promoting
the rich.This is still going on to this day,fat cats getting fatter,and
the workers and the retired are being ripped of by such as
the gas,electricity and fuel its never ending because of Thatcher
and the only way is go back in time and make her dad use
a condom.

Answer 8

The very fact that people are still asking questions about Thatcher indicates that there hasn't been a politician since who's worthy of the name. For good or ill (and personally I didn't agree with most of her policies) she stuck to her guns. As she herself said, 'This lady's not for turning'. None of the shilly-shallying we get today.

Answer 9

Margret Thatcher was the best prime minister this country had ecept winston churchill. Her policies have made this country what is today, if she hadnt have bashed the miners union our society would continulally be disrupted by strikes like it was before she came to power. I say hip hip hoo raa! for maggy!.

Answer 10

SHE WAS AND IS STILL ONE OF THE BEST PRIME MINISTERS WE HAVE EVER HAD

SHE PUT DOWN THE MINERS THAT KEPT CRIPPLING THE COUNTRY
SHE PUT DOWN THE UNIONS THAT KEPT CRIPPLING THE COUNTRY
AND SHE PUT DOWN MANY MORE THAT SLOWED THE COUNTRY DOWN IT WAS FROM HER POWER AND CONTROL THAT WE ARE AT A PLACE OF POWER AND WEALTH TODAY

HER GROUND WORK PUT USE 5TH IN THE WORLDS WEALTH

GORDON BROWN HAS ONLY BEEN MANAGING HER ORIGINAL SETTINGS FOR THE COUNTRY

AS EVERY ONE SAYS BLAIR IS RIGHT WING CARRYING ON MAGGIE'S ORDERS