Why has industry all but disappeared in the UK?

Question

Something to do with Margaret Thatcher, right?

Answer 1

because weve all evolved and more technology is about, and its not all gone well not in the little villages

Answer 2

It is mainly down to a number of reasons and not necessarily Margaret Thatcher.

1. The cost of raw materials in this country, it is cheaper to source materials outside the EU.

2. Labour to produce the goods is cheaper outside the EU.

3. The pound is strong against most other currencies and so again is more expensive to manafacture / export from Britain.

In a nutshell !!!

Answer 3

Large industry did disappear during the 80's and unlike the USA who chose to subside it's large industries like GM etc and give them protection from their creditors , the government at the time did not.... but I am not sure why you think this is all bad.. it is obvious that developing countries in the Far East and Asia will have lower labour costs.... we in Britain have one of the technological advanced economies, it is very strong based on smaller businesses, these businesses are leaner and have good profit margins... it is us in Britain who supply a large percentage of tech equipment to these larger manufacturing nations.. our economy is stable and our smaller industries very diverse, economies based on large industry tend to suffer more when shakes in the economy happen.
America at some point in the future will also suffer these effects when their government stops propping large industry up...we have already taken that step and maybe you want to blame Margret Thatcher for it but it would have happened anyway... take a hard look at the world...

Answer 4

Yes right.
When governments from all around the world were subsidising there own businesses to enable them to reduce prices and so compete and steal business from acreditted English companies, the Government of the day was approached and did nothing.
This is why the original 'Kite' mark was introduced as an assurance of quality. this was followed by many other quality standards and then finally the BS, british Standards were introduced and regulations were changed to ensure stringent levels of quality were maintained in building works etc.
However, the cancer of neglect spread hard and wide and many of the big industries went to the wall due to lack of government support and interference.
Just take a look along the Thames embankment and you can see dozens of sites formally owned and run by multi million pound companies who have folded through the markets being stifled by cheap foreign imports....
This was then made worse by the decision at government level to 'build' the Thames corridor which has seen further industrial closures to ensure land is available for the houses they want built there.
Lastly the 'Maggie' government were determined to break the miners and subsequently threw many thousands of family men onto the scrap heap, whilst opening the doors to Europe and the workers we see now who can earn money here to enable the families in their home countries to live in relative luxury whilst we suffer the consequences.

Answer 5

You bet cha ! She did to Great Britain what Ronald ReaGUN did to the US...............SCREWED it all up for the workers and the middle classes. The corporations soon learned that it was far more profitable for them with increases of up 90% increases, that using 10 year old children in India and China is better than paying a decent hard worker in the US or UK a decent wage for a decent days work. But hey, the suckers voted for them, and it's blowing up in their faces. You always get what you vote for in a democracy. This time it's GREED.

Answer 6

Manufacturing is chaeper abroad because the workers will slave away for next to nothing. Not Thatcher's fault, its just how the world works.

Answer 7

Its not thatcher.There were plenty of apprenticeships when i did mine in the early 90s.The current government is not interested in Manufacturing and saving thousands of jobs because it does not want to be associated with trade unions for the fear of losing votes.If you read the news everyone works 9-5,5 days a week in an office and thats what they would like us to believe.The country is F"cked

Answer 8

Because the wages are too high in UK compared to other places in the world - therefore making goods more expensive to sell abroad

Answer 9

No not really. It's because of the high labour costs in the UK
compared to getting the products made abroad.

Answer 10

Thatcher. Capitalism. Outsourcing.

Capitalism is a flawed system - what will happen when every cheap labour market has been exploited...?

It will be RIP capitalism.

Answer 11

You are absolutely right. That numpty ruined our country from British tradition to an USA way of life. Examples: -
1. We use to have a dress style.....teds, rockers, mods, glam, punks, psychedelic........now we just dress like the USA.......baseball caps, sneakers & hoodies.
Thatcher looked after the voracious & she ruined our culture....shame on her.