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Around which year would you say was the begining of the end for British manufacturing? In other words, when did big business start closing their British industrial plants, move their production operations overseas, and make a lot of blue-collar people back in the UK unemployed? In about what year did this phenomenon first start to hit Britain?

2007-08-28 02:03:49 · 12 answers · asked by Rita K 1 in Arts & Humanities History

12 answers

1973 and the world wide recession brought on by the OPEC demands and the Goverment not being able to cope with the demands of the Unions and Workers groups.

2007-08-28 11:38:52 · answer #1 · answered by Kevan M 6 · 1 0

I would think that the beginning of the end was around 1977 -79. The constant disruptive strikes made investors very wary of throwing good money away. The likes of Red Robbo and Arthur Scargill and a few others held the country to ransom and Britain became known as the 'sick man of Europe'.

Margaret Thatcher rightly challenged this grip that the unions had on the country but it is a matter of debate as to whether she went too far. There were certainly lives wrecked by unemplyment as non productive or non economic industries were closed down, which was dreadful for not only the North but in many other areas. My own view is that the overmighty unions were equally to blame.

2007-08-28 11:39:30 · answer #2 · answered by Clio 2 · 0 0

Are you all very young? I'm no expert but there were grave difficulties in the manufacturing sector from the 1970s. Much as like to blame everything on the evilness that was (is) Thatcher I think we need to go back a bit.
Doesn't it depend on the kind of industry you mean? Cotton mills and the like had declined and many heavy industries were declining by the 1970's. Manufacturing had serious problems by then presumably because of the terrible recession during the 70's. Anyone for candles and three day weeks?
you've got me thinking, I'm off for a read and may return!

2007-08-28 09:45:44 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1 0

The industrial decline of UK started from about 1900 and was very noticeable especially in Scotland.

Very soon after WW2 major manufacturering such as shipbuiloding ceased in UK when it became much cheaper to build ships abroad, such as at the Gdansk shipyards in Poland.

Coalmining in UK was also scaled down and little by little the mines were shut. In South Wales in the 1950s there were said to be 100,000 coal miners. Not any more.

Likewise steelworks all started to shut. Certainly from the very early 1960s it became evident that major industry was either closing or had already gone.

In the early 1960s the then Prime minister, Harold Wilson [Labour] made a speech called "The White Heat of the Techological Revolution" speech. In this speech, Harold Wilson outlined Britain's future as a manufacturing nation. He explained the urgent need to re-educate and learn new skills, computers etc.

As with all revolutions, there are winners and losers. Those who failed to learn news skills, especially when they were on offer for free, have only themselves to blame. Most especially the blue collar workers lead by such as Arther Scarghill [or should I say, the mis-lead workers].

The miners wanted to blame the Tory government for the pit closures, but historically every government since the war had been closing the pits.

It is reckoned that UK still has 200 years worth of coal if and when needed. It is a dirty fuel and one which we may need in the future. Meanwhile, millions of tonnes of coal are imported from Poland and elsewhere each year to fire up our coal-fired power stations. How green is that?

Meanwhile on the otherside of the Globe - downunder - the Australian pits are just beginning to feel the pinch. This is the result of a shipping jam of coal bearing ships trying to unload at South China ports. It is taking so long to unload that the coal is no longer profitable. China is one of Australia's only coal export destinations.

Industrial DeclineThe story of 20th century Glasgow after the First World War, is in bleak contrast to the previous century, marred by industrial decline of enormous ...
http://www.glasgow.gov.uk/en/AboutGlasgow/History/Industrial+Decline.htm

Industrial DeclineIndustrial Decline. During the 1900's heavy industry began to decline in Scotland. The factors which caused this were - ...
http://www.scalloway.org.uk/indu4.htm

2007-08-28 13:54:42 · answer #4 · answered by Dragoner 4 · 0 0

I agree that is was in the mid 1980's when Margaret Thatcher took on the Unions. It led to the demise of the coal industry as well as move of car manufacturing from the likes of Longbridge to places like Spain and the Asia region. There was much closure of manufacturing and a slow move towards the service sector - banking and insurance. Hope this helps.

2007-08-28 09:19:32 · answer #5 · answered by ANDY H 1 · 0 0

I think deindustrialization began much earlier than the other answerers, starting in the mid to late 1800s. By the 1970s, the era of industrialization was over for Great Britain and it had become the first global example of "deindustrialization." Mrs. Thatcher merely finished the job by weakening the unions and paralyzing the economy with her tight monetary policies from 1979-1981.

2007-08-28 10:03:51 · answer #6 · answered by Beach Saint 7 · 0 0

1980/84 Thatcher Era

2007-08-28 09:15:21 · answer #7 · answered by dedaliuswizz 3 · 0 0

1984 during the height of the miners strike when british confidence in manufacturing was at a low

2007-08-28 09:37:28 · answer #8 · answered by McCanns are guilty 7 · 0 0

1980-1984

2007-08-28 11:04:26 · answer #9 · answered by paris hilton 1 · 0 0

I would say the decline of Labour in late 1970's that allowed in Conservatives.

They of course privatised a lot and put the whole emphasis on 'making loadsa money'.

2007-08-28 12:11:48 · answer #10 · answered by David 5 · 1 0

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