4.15 The impact of Thatcherism on society

Question 1

What act gave council tenants the right to buy their council house? When?

Answer 1

The Housing Act 1980

Question 2

What discount did council tenants receive under the Housing Act 1980?

Answer 2

a discount between 33% and 50%, depending on how long they had lived in their house

Question 3

By 1988, how many homeowners had taken advantage of the Right to Buy scheme?

Answer 3

approximately 2 million

Question 4

What showed the success of the Right to Buy scheme?

Answer 4

Labour dropped its opposition to the scheme because it was so popular with the public, particularly in the south

Question 5

Negative consequence of Right to Buy - did the scheme really help the poorest?

Answer 5

• sale of council housing predominantly in better-off areas + did not have much of an impact in less desirable estates

Question 6

Negative consequence of Right to Buy - what were councils ordered to do with the money? consequences?

Answer 6

• Councils ordered not to use the profits to build new council housing, but to reduce debts –> number and quality of homes available for rent was sharply reduced + waiting lists got longer - many housed in emergency B&B accommodation (expensive for councils + not always suitable for families)

Question 7

What is secondary picketing?

Answer 7

picketing a location not directly involved in the disputes (i.e. it might be supply or sell the products involved

Question 8

When was secondary picketing outlawed?

Answer 8

In 1980

Question 9

When were unions put under pressure to hold ballots before strike action was called?

Answer 9

In 1984

Question 10

What did the National Coal Board (NCB) warn in 1981?

Answer 10

the need to close 23 pits

Question 11

How did the government respond to the NCB’s warning of the need to close 23 pits?

Answer 11

the government had not felt ready for a rerun of 1973-74 and so compromised - reduced the amount of coal imported + protected the subsidy to the NCB (thus prevented the closures)

Question 12

What was different in 1984 than 1981 regarding government’s relationship with miners?

Answer 12

government fully prepared + confident
- huge stocks of coal had been built up at power stations
- flow of North Sea oil made it much less likely that there would be an energy crisis (as in 1973)
- Ian McGregor, new chairman of NCB, had government backing for taking tough line

Question 13

What did the NCB announce in 1984?

Answer 13

the need to close 20 pits

Question 14

Who was Arthur Scargill?

Answer 14

President of the NUM

Question 15

What did Arthur Scargill claim?

Answer 15

that he had see a secret plan to close 70 pits
-> MacGregor rejected this (documents released in 2014 - there was a strategy to close 75 pits over the following 3 years)

Question 16

What weakened Scargill’s case?

Answer 16

• His refusal to hold a strike ballot
• failed to overcome the historic regional divisions among the miners (Nottinghamshire miners formed breakaway union - UDM)

Question 17

When was the Battle of Orgreave?

Answer 17

June 1984 - among the most famous confrontations between the miners and the police

Question 18

what happened at the Battle of Orgreave?

Answer 18

mass picket at Orgreave by 5000 miners - faced up by 8000 police officers
- series of violent confrontations -> more than 50 picketers (incl. Scargill) and more than 70 police officers were injured

defeat for NUM - lorried continued to roll in and out of Orgreave

Question 19

How did employment by the coal industry fall between 1979 and 1990?

Answer 19

1979 - 200,000
1990 - 60,000 and falling

Question 20

How did total union membership fall between 1979 and 1990?

Answer 20

only 2/3 in 1990 what it had been in 1979

Question 21

What was the poll tax officially known as?

Answer 21

the Community Charge

Question 22

What was the aim of the poll tax?

Answer 22

To make local councils more accountable to their electors by ensuring that everyone contributed

Question 23

What became clear quite quickly about the poll tax?

Answer 23

Even under Conservative councils, local taxation was likely to go up

Question 24

When was the poll tax introduced into Scotland? Immediate reaction?

Answer 24

1989 - extremely unpopular from outset - harmed Conservative Party in Scotland even further

Question 25

Despite its unpopularity in Scotland, when was the poll tax introduced into England and Wales?

Answer 25

April 1990

Question 26

What were set up across the country against the poll tax?

Answer 26

Anti-Poll Tax Unions, which urged people not to pay

Question 27

In some areas up to …% of people were non-payers of the poll tax

Answer 27

up to 30% - the police, courts and councils were unable to enforce payment

Question 28

When was there an anti-poll tax demonstration in Trafalgar Square? How many people attended?

Answer 28

March 1990 - more than 200,000 people attended + by evening had turned into a riot

Question 29

In what ways were the Church in opposition to Thatcher’s government?

Answer 29

• CofE published report in 1985 - ‘Faith in the City’ - called on the government to do more to help deprived communities
• bishops such as David Jenkins (Durham) + David Sheppard (Liverpool) were outspoken against Thatcherite policies + their impact on society

Question 30

What pressure groups posed opposition to Thatcher

Answer 30

• charities like Shelter (homelessness problem) + Age Concern (pensioner poverty)
• CND given new lease of life by Thatcher’s determined backing for policy of deterrence + stepping up of arms race against USSR

Question 31

What group stood as opposition to the government from both pacifism + feminism?

Answer 31

The Greenham women, at the camp outside the Greenham Common base from 1981-2000

Question 32

When American Cruise Missiles were due to arrive in …, …. protesters formed a 14 mile human chain from Greenham to Aldermaston

Answer 32

In April 1983, 70,000 protestors formed a 14 mile human chain from Greenham to Aldermaston

Question 33

What movement started to grow in the 1980s? What events caused this?

Answer 33

Environmentalism
1984 Bhopal gas leak in India
1985 discovery of Antarctic ozone hole caused by CFCs
+ damage done to limestone buildings, freshwater lakes by acid rain