5.2 The Extent to Which State Intervention and the Public Sector were Rolled Back Flashcards
1
Q
Thatcherism and state intervention
How did Thatcher believe a strong state would preserve the liberty of Biritish citizens?
A
- the free market would ensure economic liberty
- the strong state would protect political freedom
2
Q
Thatcherism and state intervention
4 key areas Thatcher wanted to roll back
A
- Keynesianism
- Corporatism
- Cut gov spending on welfare
- cut direct taxes
3
Q
Thatcherism and state intervention
why was a strengthened state necessary? to protect freedom from?
A
- the soviet union: nuclear weapons and a powerful army
- powerful unions: who wanted to use undemocratic methods to force up wages
- terrorists, hooligans, muggers who threatened people with violence. Strong state and a large police force was needed.
4
Q
Corporatism
what did corporatism traditionally mean
A
-it was used for buisinesses and governemtns to negotiate common policy on pay, prices, or industrial development
- thatcher thought this gave government too much control over crucial sectors of the economy
5
Q
Corporatism
how did Thatcher end corporatism?
A
- she abandoned price and income policies from 1979
- the governemnt stopped negotiating with the major unions
- left prices, wages, production, and investment to the free market
6
Q
Keynesianism
what did keynesianism mean to Thatcher? How was it rolled back?
A
- traditionally governmnet cutting taxes and increasing spending to stimulate the economy into growth
- Thatcher believed this intervened with the free market
- She rolled it back by cutting spending and cutting taxes to stimulate the economy.
7
Q
Union policy
The Employment Act 1980
A
criminalised secondary action
8
Q
Union policy
Employment Act 1982
A
- union leaders could only impose a closed shop on an industry if they had a majority in a secret ballot
9
Q
Union policy
Trade Unions Act 1984
A
- forced unions to call a secret ballot and win a mjority of support prior to starting strike action
10
Q
defence
1979 developments. US cruise missiles?
A
- she allowed US cruise missiles to be stationed on British territory, to deter military aggression
11
Q
defence
1980 what did she by from America?
A
- Trident nuclear weapons
- she believed it would deter a soviet invasion
12
Q
defence
1981 Defence Review: what was it called? what did it commit the government to?
A
- The Way Forward
- committed the government to an increase defence spending by 3% every year to pay for Trident
13
Q
defence
1982 Falklands
A
- Thatcher approved a complex military operation to retake the Falkland islands from Argentina
14
Q
defence
1986 she said US bombers could be stationed…
A
- in Britain to carry out bombing raids in LibYa
15
Q
defence
defence spending increase 1979-1986
A
20%
16
Q
defence
what did Thatcher do as a result of Tridents cost being far more than expected?
A
- between 1984-1986, 18,000 troops were made redundant
- Plans to buy a new fighter plane scrapped
- Navy reduced
- Chatham and Royal Dockyard closed.
17
Q
defence
defence spending falling? 1979-1989, 1990-1997
A
(in real terms - including inflation) 7% from 1979-1989 due to cuts in conventional forces
- 12% between 1990-1997
18
Q
Law and Order
Operation Swamp 81: what happened?
A
- police used ‘sus laws’ to stop and serch black people in London, particularly Brixton
- this happened for 10 days
- this aggression led to the Brixton riots
19
Q
Law and Order
Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984
A
- gave police new rights to search cars and enter propreties
20
Q
Law and Order
Public Order Ac 1986
A
- gave police rights to arrest protestors or picketingm or even using insulting words
21
Q
Law and Order
Criminal Justice Acts 1982 and 1988
A
- shorter sentences but tougher treatment for young offenders
22
Q
Law and Order
Prevention of Terrorism Act 1989
A
- further extended stop and search powers
23
Q
secret state and civil liberties
What was thatcher concerned with? what was she prepared to limit
A
- concerned with traditional liberties that could be undermined by Russian-organised communist infiltration
- she was prepared to limit some freedoms to protect others
24
Q
GCHQ
what is it?
A
- secret intelligence service used to intercept and monitor communications
- keeping top-levle governemnt communications secret
25
# GCHQ
What did she ban GCHQ members from doing? why?
- **1984**: workers banned from being a union member as a response to strikes at the HQ in **1981**
- government argued these strikes threatened national security and should therefore be illegal
- she claimed union members were part of 'the enemy within'
26
# the 'Zircon affair'
what does it relate to?
- the banning of a TV documentary relating to a secret spy satellite codenamed Zircon
27
# the 'Zircon affair'
what happened?
- **1985** Scottish journalist Duncan Campbell uncovered evidence the government was planning to launch a spy satellite that would intercept transmissions across Britain, Europe, and the Soviet Union
- **1986** he worked on a bbc documentary about the satellite
- the bbc was put under pressure and wouldnt show it
- Cambell gave the story to *The Observer* and the police raided his office and took his research
- the government legally banned Campbell from writing or speaking about his research
- government kept the project secret from the rest of parliament
- Thatcher would not inform the Public Accounts Committee
28
# media interference
what did the government ban? documetnary? interviews?
- *Spycatcher* was a memoir of a former MI5 officer, but banned in England and Wales in **1985** along with press coverage
- **1988**: governmetn banned the broadcast of IRA and Sinn Fein members
- governemnt put broadcasts under pressure to drop programmes on conflict in Northern Ireland
29
# a crisis of civil liberties?
Was there a crisis of civil liberties: Newspapers were unable to what? how was the ECHR involved? pressure groups?
- newspapers were unable to challegne the government in English Courts
- ECHR overruled government bans
- it ruled the governemnt breached the European Convention of Human RIghts by banning the press coverage of *Spycatcher*
- pressure group **chapter 88** was informed in **1988** to campaign for protection of civil liberties in Britain
30
# Expansion of law and order
law and order budget increased how much? how much did the prison population rise between **1979-1997**
- law and order budget increased 36% between **1979** and **1989**
- the prison population rose from around 42,000 in **1979** to 60,000 by **1997**
31
# Thatcher and the public sector
what was Thatchers government (2 main points)
1. anticollectivist: individual freedom over policies to promote welfare
2. antistatist: state action is counterproductive, private companies are superior.
32
# Housing - Thatcher's *'right to buy'*
Why did Thatcher advocate for this policy? what did she believe in?
| 3 main points
**property-owning democracy**: Thatcher believed owning property gave people authority in society, so therefore a reason to behave
**property and freedom**: owning property meant people were independent of the state
**Superiority of the private sector**: the private sector would build better housing.
33
# Thatchers housing policy
**1980** Housing Act
- gave local council tenants who had lived in their houses for more than 3 years the right to buy their houses at 33% discount from the market rate
- tenants who lived in their houses for more than 20 years got a 50% discount rate.
34
# the consequnces of this policy
what were the consequences of this policy? how many people bought their houses?
- half a million people bought thier council houses every year **1980-1990**
- Between **1980-1997** over 5m state owned houses were sold to private tenants
35
# the consequnces of this policy
Proportion of State owned houses in Britain fell **1979-1989**?
- **1979**: 31.5% state owned
- **1989**: 23.6%
owner occupation increased from 50% in **1971** to 78% in **1989**
36
# the consequnces of this policy
**1988** Housing Act
- explicitly banned local authorities from spending the money earnedfrom the sale of council houses on new building projects
- this meant by **1997** the state was effectively no longer building new houses.
37
# Nationalised Industry
what did Thatcher shift
- the balance of the economy towards the private sector
- became a key feature of government policy following the privatisation of BT in **1984**
38
# the civil service
How did she attempt to cut down the civil service?
| EU, MIS, NS
- **Establishment of an Efficiency Unit** to find ways to make the civil service more efficient
- **Management Information System** to monintor and reduce civil service costs
- ***Next Steps*** report leading to a new management culture
39
# the civil service
Government efficiency savings and civil servants numbers: who did Thatcher promote?
- £1b worth of efficnecy sabings
- number of civil servants had been reduced by 25%
- she promoted civil servants that would promote her ideas
40
# local government
why was thatcher concerned about the local government: how much governmetn spending? what kind of policies? what did Thatcher try to do
- 28% of government expenditure went to local governments
- some local authorities were introducing 'socilist policies' which were a threat to individual freedom
- tried to roll back the local government
40
# local government and the labour left
3 strands within Labour during the **1980s**
1. **the old left**
2. **the new left**
3. **militant tendency**
41
# local government and the labour left
the old left: leader + commitments
- **1983-1989** Labour leader Neil Kinnock was committed to traditional labour policies such as nationalisation, keynesianism and corporatism
42
# local government and the labour left
the new left: advocates + supported initiatives?
- Ken Livingstone and the Greater London Council
- believed Labour should fight for equality
- they supported initiatives to advance womens liberation and gave money to groups campaigning for different rights
- campaigned for nuclear disarmament and talked to Sinn Fein
43
43
# local government and the labour left
militant tendency: beliefs + strategy
- Trotskyite organisation that believed in the overthrow of capitalism and a socialist government
- strategy was to infiltrate labour party groups and get their members elected as MPs
## Footnote
labelled by the right wing as 'the loony left'
44
# reducing spending
4 main ways of reducing local government spending through thatchwer
| CF, T & Ps, TRB, LGA
- cutting funding
- michael heseltines 'targets and penalties'
- the rates bill **1984**
- the local government act **1984**
45
# reducing spending
Between **1979-1984** the government cut funding to local authorities: how much? how did local authorities respond?
- **1979**: £44m of local gov funding
- **1984**: £39m of local gov funding
- local authorities raised local taxes
46
# reducing spending
**1981** Michael Heseltine's 'targets and penalties': what was it? how did local authorities respond?
- the local government was given a spending limit, if they exceeded this their allowance would be reduced
- local government responded by increasing local taxes
47
# reducing spending
the rates bill **1984**
- gave governmetn power to impose a cap on local taxation
48
# reducing spending
local government act **1984**
- forced councils to buy private sector service
- gave the government powert to accept the most competitive offers to keep costs down
49
# reducing spending
what did this roll back extend?
- the power of the state
- as local government power decreased, the power of the central government increased :9
50
# rate capping
**1984** Liverpool council (led by Derek Hatton) set what?
- an illegal rate in protest agains the rates bill
51
# rate capping
**1985-1986**: how many councils was the government to cap? what happened in the end?
- 18 councils (16 lab, 2 cons)
- this persisted until **1987**
- in the end all councils set a legal rate
52
# rate capping
why did the campaign fall apart?
| 4 main reasons: COM, DISUN, LL, LLC
- government was prepared to **compromise**, and let 6 of the councils set higher rates
- 16 labour councils **were not united**, there were big divisions between the 3 groups
- right wing press **'loony left'** campaign
- **labour leader publicly criticised** Liverpools council for setting an illegal rate
53
# the greater london council
what did it administer?
- the inner city and outlying boroughs of London, making it the largest single local authority in the country
54
# the greater london council
who managed to take control of the council in **1981**
- ken livingstone and the new left
55
# the greater london council
Livingstone's GLC 'urban socialism' policies: 5 main policies?
| FF, STMG, SBNA, GC, LEU
- **'fare's fair**: reduces traffic and pollution by reducing fares
- Financial **support to minority groups**: LGBT, womens rights, black and asian rights groups such as the Race Today Collective (**Eg.** the GLC spent £300,000 on grants to gay and lesbian groups)
- **spending budget** to prepare London for a **nuclear attack**
- opening **government cafes** up to the public
- establishing the **london ecological unit** which setup ecological gardens to protect wildlife
56
# the greater london council
GLCs political programmes that Thatcher thought was dangerous?
| 3 main policies: GPDNS, NM, SF
- **Government plans for dealing with a nuclear strike** were published by Livingstone: army troops would surround London so civilians could not escape, with the asumption that everyone would die in a confined area
- GLC endorsed **Nelson Mandela** whikle he was considered a terrorist by the British government
- Livingstone invited **Sinn Fein** leader Gerry Adams to speak in London, along with meeting him and Darcus Howe
57
# the greater london council
Local Government Act **1985**
- thatcher abolished the greater london council
58
# the poll tax
what was it designed to do?
| rates
- replacing rates as the system of funding local government
- rates were based on the number of properties, so there were problems with this system (**Eg.** 2 houses with the same featuers would pay the same rates, though the income could be radically different)
59
# the poll tax
what did the community charge ensure? what did Thatcher argue?
- all adults paid the same tax
- she argued this would make local governments more accountable because all citizens paid, so they all should nesure councils spent thier money wisely
60
# the poll tax
what was the problem with the poll tax?
| which act was it introduced in?
- flat rate so unrelated to income
- the poor paid a much larger proportion of their income
- tax was introduced by the Local Government Finance Act of **1988**
- introduced in Scotland in **1989** and ENgland and Wales in **1990**
61
# the poll tax
when was the tax replaced
- **1993** with council tax
62
# rolling back the local government
stats surrounding local government rollback: was Thatcher successful?
- local government spending increased by 15% in real terms **1979-1989**
- shrunk after **1990**
- but was almost **14%** higher than it had been in **1979**
- **1979** Local government spending was 10% of the GDP, it was 8.7% in **1989** and 8.3% in **1997**
63
# rolling back the local government
was thatcher succesful?
to an extent
- she did remove Ken Livingstone and abolished the GLC
- ended local governmetn efforts to use the power to protect the rights of minorities and the environment
- she succeeded in London at least
64
# NHS
who di she appoint to advise how to make the NHS more efficient? what did he do?
- Sir Roy Griffiths (head of sainsburys)
- he introduced a new level of management
65
# NHS
in the mid **1980s**, what was the NHS requierd to do?
- buy in services from the private sector
66
# NHS
**1989** White Paper *Working With Patients*
- created an internal market within the NHS
- rather than direct funding, the system gave government money to district health authorities which would buy services from local hospitals
67
# NHS
what did Thatcher argue?
- this would make the NHS more efficient because it would force local hospitals to compete with eachother for district health authority money
68
# NHS
government spending on the NHS grew by...
- 35% in real terms **1979-1989**
69
# social security
**1986** Social Security Act
- tried to stop rising in social security costs by introducing a means test to some universal benefits
- made it harder to claim beneifts
- but this didnt lead to a long term reduction in social security spending
70
# social security
social security spending as a % of the GDP **1984, 1969, 1995**
- **1984**: 13.0
- **1989**: 11.1
- **1995**: 14.6
71
# Pensions
What did Thatcher to do state pensions vs private pensions
- increased the uptake of private pensions to reduce dependence on state pensions
- encouraged State Earning-Related Pension Scheme (SERPS) to make it less attractive to encourage people to opt into private schemes
72
# Pensions
governmetn spending on pensions **1979-1990**
- stayed almost exactly the same
- **6.7%** of the GDP in **1979** vs **6.5%** of the GDP in **1990**
73
# Education
How did she strengthen central state control of schooling?
- she introduced a national cirriclum focusing on English, Maths, and Science
- introduced standard tests at the age of 7, 11 14, and 16 which results would be published to league tables so parents could evaluate which school ahd the best standards
- allowed schools to become 'grant maintained' recieving funding directly from the govenrment which broke up the LEAs
74
# Education
**1992** Major established..
- the Office for Standards in Education to monitor performance of schools
- these reports were intendd to help parnts make informed choices about local schools
75
# Education
government spending as a % of the GDP **1979, 1984, 1989, 1995**
- **1979**: 5.2
- **1984**: 5.2
- **1989**: 4.8
- **1995**: 5.5
76
# conclusion
was she successful?
- in terms of local government and public services, it would be more accurate to say she changed the way the state worked rather than reducing the size of it
