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History (britain) > Thatcher > Flashcards

Thatcher Flashcards

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1
Q

What happened to unemployment levels in her first term?

A

Doubled to 3.6 million by 1983.

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2
Q

What saved her popularity and got her reelected in 1982?

A

The Falklands war victory.

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3
Q

Who in her cabinet resigned during her third term and why?

A

Nigel Lawson- she refused to consider linking the value of the pound to the Deutschmark.
Geoffery Howe- Thatcher refused to join the European Exchange Rate Mechanism.

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4
Q

What were inflation rates in 1980?

A

18%

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5
Q

What happened to inflation figures by 1982 and how what were they like for the remainder of the decade?

A

Was in single figures by 1982 and remained below 9% for the whole decade.

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6
Q

It what years were British Aerospace, BT and British Gas sold?

A

British Aerospace- 1981 BT- 18984 and British Gas- 1986

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7
Q

What happened to the number of shareowners between 1979 and 1990?

A

It rose from 3 to 11 million.

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8
Q

What % of shares were owned by individuals in 1975 compared to 1990?

A

38% but only 20% in 1990.

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9
Q

When was British rail privatised and was it a success?

A

Between 1994 and 1997 and is not seen as a success as it continued to be subsidised by the government and many say that the service has not improved.

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10
Q

What was the most significant event of deregulation in her time?

A

The Big Bang of October 1986. Relaxed rules on ownership and trading operation of banks resulting in huge growth of financial services.

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11
Q

What happened to private household debt between 1980 and 1989?

A

Was16 billion in 1980 and 47 billion in 1989.

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12
Q

What happened to mortgage debt in her time?

A

Rose from £43 billion to £235 billion.

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13
Q

What did the clamp down on tax avoidance systems lead to?

A

The amount of tax that the top 5% paid in 1988 was the same as in 1978 when they were taxed 83%.

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14
Q

What were income and inheritance tax rates reduced to?

A

Basic income from 33 to 25%. Inheritance from 75% to 40%.

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15
Q

Why did the average tax bill rise by 6% in the period?

A

The growth of VAT, rose from 8 to 15%.

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16
Q

Outline the 1980 employment act.

A

Workers did not have to join a union when they joined a particular firm. Unions could only organise strikes against their direct employers. Sympathy strikes banned.

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17
Q

Outline the 1982 employment act.

A

Allowed unions to be sued for illegal strike action.

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18
Q

Outline the 1984 trade union act.

A

Strikes had to be approved by a majority of union members in a secret ballot before it was legal.

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19
Q

What happened to number of union members between 1979 and 1990?

A

Fell from 13.5 million to 10 million.

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20
Q

How many civil servants had been sacked by 1988 and how much money did this save?

A

22.5% saving £1 billion.

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21
Q

What did the 1985 local government act do?

A

Enbaled Thatcher to abolish the councils she found most troublesome such as the GLC.

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22
Q

What did the Housing Act of 1980 do?

A

Gave people the right to buy their council houses if they had been living in it for three or more years.

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23
Q

How many council houses were sold between 1982-83 alone?

A

204,000

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24
Q

What did home ownership rates rise by between 1979 and 1990?

A

55% to 63%

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25
Q

What happened to NHS spending between 1980 and 1987?

A

Rose by 60%

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26
Q

What happened to NHS spending as a % of public spending between 1979 and 1996?

A

Rose from 12 to 15%

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27
Q

By 1996 how many NHS trusts were in debt?

A

34

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28
Q

What happened to the number of owner occupiers during her era?

A

Rose from 10.2 million to 13.4 million.

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29
Q

What happened to the number of people in social housing in her era?

A

Dropped by 900,000

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30
Q

What happened to interest rates in her era and what did they peak at?

A

They never fell below 7.4% and they peaked at 17%

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31
Q

What happened to house prices during her era?

A

Tripled from £20,000 to £60,000

32
Q

What did a bottom 10%’s family income increase by in her era?

A

Only 4.6%

33
Q

What happened to the number of household without an indoor toilet or bath during her era?

A

Fell from 3.7 million to only 259,000

34
Q

What happened to the number of children and elderly in poverty?

A

Number of children almost doubled and number of elderly rose by 1 million.

35
Q

What happened to unemployment rates?

A

Rose from 5.3% (1979) to 6.9% (1990) and peaked at 11.9%(1984)

36
Q

What happened to union membership?

A

Fell from 13.2 million to 9.8 million.

37
Q

What happened to number of working days lost?

A

Fell from 29.5 million to less than 2 million in 1990.

38
Q

What happened to % of UK population who believed same sex relationships were always wrong?

A

Rose form 50% to 58%

39
Q

How did Thatcher marginalise the wets?

A

Rejected one nation conservative values in favour of commitment to the free market. Removed influence of upper class born into wealth and used people who made their own money.

40
Q

Name three key moderates Thatcher sacked.

A

Sir Ian Gilmour, Lord Soams, Mark Carlisle

41
Q

What was the Westland Affair?

A

A conflict between Heseltine and Thatcher over the selling of Westland Helicopters. Heseltine wanted to sell it out to a European consortium whereas Thatcher wanted to sell it to an American company. Thatcher let the market decide effectively meaning it got sold to the American company and Heseltine resigned.

42
Q

Why was Thatcher increasingly unpopular by late 1990?

A

High interest rates (15%), privatisation of water, party divisions over the EEC, Howe’s resignation over her Euroscepticism. The poll tax.

43
Q

What was john major’s solution to the poll tax?

A

Reduced poll tax bills by 50%. Established council tax which linked local taxation and property value. People living alone would pay less than those living with multiple wage earners.

44
Q

What did John Major privatise?

A

The bulk of the states electricity in 1991 and some in 1995. British rail in 1992.

45
Q

What was Major’s general economic style?

A

Similar to Thatcher, high growth and low inflation. He used the free market and abolished the National economic Development Council which advocated for corporatism.

46
Q

What was Major’s public sector welfare policy?

A

Emphasised commitment to state provided universal healthcare. His government implemented the national health service and community care act, which established an internal market within the NHS. The PFI, built upon the principle that the state should fund but not provide services. Established a system where private companies would manage schools and hospitals for lucrative payment from the government.

47
Q

What happened to law and order under Major?

A

Got even harsher than it was under Thatcher. Criminal justice and public order act (1994) gave police power to target raves. Partially removed right to remain silent, criminalised squatting and unauthorised camping. Prison population continued to rise.

48
Q

What conservative scandals took place during the 90s?

A

Tim Yeos affair, Steve Norris’s affairs, Steve Milligan’s death from auto-erotic asphyxiation. Cash for questions scandal.

49
Q

What did Foot’s 1983 manifesto promise?

A

Nuclear disarmament, ending privatisation and renationalising, leaving the EEC, massive increase on welfare spending.

50
Q

What specific person did Tony Blair want labour to appeal to?

A

Mondeo man, a typical working-class conservative voter. Someone who supported Thatcher’s economic policy but was also concerned about the state of education and hospitals.

51
Q

What was Blair committed to which Thatcher would never had endorsed?

A

Greater protection of civil liberties, freedom of information bill, devolution of Scotland and Wales, more minority rights, more regulation of markets, more spending on health, education, infrastructure, more accountability in local govt, more minority political representation, more union rights, minimum wage.

52
Q

Why may Tony Blair not be considered new labour?

A

The labour party had always been led by moderates or people on the right of the party. Callaghan, Wilson, Attlee, Macdonald were all quite moderate. Only Foot was really a radical left leader for the party. Blair’s new labour could be seen as a return to the labour of the century.

53
Q

Who were the SDP?

A

A party that emerged in 1981, they were made up of Right-wing labour MPs and left in protest of the left-wing policies of Foot. The party rejected both labour and the conservatives politics of the time.

54
Q

What policies did the SDP-liberal alliance propose?

A

Introduction of proportional representation, a written constitution, freedom of information. Were very pro-Europe, supported co-ownership.

55
Q

What % of the votes did the alliance gain in 1983 and how many seats did this translate to?

A

25.5% but only 23 seats

56
Q

How did the SDP liberal alliance change its manifesto based on Thatcherism?

A

1983 manifesto had a commitment to corporatism and a mixed economy. By 1987 its opinion had changed, in favour of privatisation and corporatism had been dropped.

57
Q

What is monetarism?

A

The theory or practice of controlling the supply of money as the chief method of stabilizing the economy.

58
Q

How much did the economy annually grow by between 1985-1988?

A

4%

59
Q

What were Yuppies?

A

Young upwardly mobile professionals: associated with stock market trading, wore sharp suits, drank champagne, used mobile phones.

60
Q

What caused the Lawson boom?

A

The relaxation of credit controls, allowing people with lower incomes to borrow larger sums of money. Decreased interest rates from 14% to 7.5%

61
Q

What did Lawson do when the stock market crashed?

A

Cut interest rates to 7.5%. cut top income tax to 40% and standard to 25%.

62
Q

What were the effects of Lawson deregulating the economy?

A

This all led to rising inflation. Lawson had to increase interest rates, hitting everyone who had borrowed money. Economy went into recession and unemployment started to rise.

63
Q

What happened to public spending between 1980-81?

A

Fell from 11 billion to 9 billion

64
Q

What happened to total taxes due to the 1981 budget?

A

Increased by 4 billion

65
Q

How many British steel workers and British Leyland workers were laid off in 1979 and 81 respectively?

A

53,000 British steel and 30,000 British Leyland workers

66
Q

what happened to the standard income tax rate in 1987?

A

dropped from 30 to 27%

67
Q

How much money was being lost to nationalised industries in 1984 as compared to 1988?

A

Went from a loss of 1.1 billion to making £1.3 billion.

68
Q

What happened to the % of people owning shares between 1979 and 1990?

A

Rose from 7% to 25%

69
Q

How much was BT sold for and in what year?

A

£3.7 billion in 1984

70
Q

How much did the stock market lose on black Monday in oct 1987?

A

£50 million

71
Q

What did Lawson do to keep the economy going after the crash?

A

Cut interest rates to 7.5% and reduced tax rates to 40% and 25%.

72
Q

What was Britain’s world ranking in terms of GDP per capita in in 1973 as opposed to 1997?

A

11th down to 14th

73
Q

What were average growth rates under thatcher and how does this compare to the period of 1960-97?

A

2.5% which is the same as the average across the period.

74
Q

What did unemployment average under Thatcher?

A

9.1%

75
Q

What happened to public expenditure as a % of GDP?

A

Rose from 37 to 39%

76
Q

What % of GDP had industry created in 1960 compared to 1997?

A

40% to 21%

History (britain) (11 decks)

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