Thatcher part 2: State intervention Flashcards

1
Q

How did Thatcher fail to intervene with the state?

A
  • She ultimately failed to prevent the state from growing throughout the 1980s
  • The cost of welfare and maintaining law and order actually went up
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2
Q

How did Thatcher sucessfully intervine with the sate?

A
  • The state intervened less in the economy & in people’s lives than had been the case in the previous decades
  • She was willing to put theory into practice. Market forces and individual freedom were allowed to determine whether industries failed or succeeded
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3
Q

What is the GDP?

A

The total wealth of the country

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4
Q

What did Thatcher think was the root cause of Britain’s decline in the post-war years?

A

She felt that there was too much State intervention in people’s lives

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5
Q

What were Thatcher’s opinions on high taxes?

A

She felt that high taxes discourage entrepreneurship

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6
Q

What was Thatcher’s opinion on state owned industries?

A

She felt that the fact that the State owned too many industries discouraged innovation and competition

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7
Q

What was Thatcher’s opinion on a welfare state?

A

If you have a strong Welfare State, so the Thatcher logic would go, then you ultimately had too much dependency on welfare

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8
Q

Did Thatcher follow consensu politics?

A

Thatcher was happy to break from the consensus politics of the post-war era

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9
Q

Who were Thatcher’s inspirations?

A
  • Keith Joseph
  • Friedrich von Hayek
  • Neoliberalism
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10
Q

Why was Thatcher inspired by Keith Joseph?

A

He was a new right conservative

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11
Q

Why was Thatcher inspired by Friedrich von Hayek?

A

He was an economist, published a book advocating against a large welfare state

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12
Q

Why was Thatcher inspired by Neoliberalism?

A

It was free market economic thinking, against state intervention and regulation,

Became popular among Tories in the 70s

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13
Q

What were Thatcher’s 3 main aims?

A
  • Reduce the size of the state - small government.
  • Reduce government interference in people’s lives.
  • Promote efficiency through privatisation and ‘contracting out’
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14
Q

How many civil servants were there originally in the UK before Thatcher?

A

732 000 civil servants in Britain - 3x more than comparable nations

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15
Q

How did Thatcher try to change the civil service when she first became PM?

A

She brought in business-minded people and advisors from outside the government to help slim down the civil service

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16
Q

When did Thatcher abolish the Civil Service Department and why?

A

1981 - She saw it as a Trade Union

17
Q

What was MINIS?

A

Introduced by the Environmental Minister

Allowed him to closely monitor the cost and responsibility of civil servants, inefficiencies could be uncovered and & cut out (job losses)

18
Q

How many environmental minister workers were fired in 3 years under Thatcher?

A

¼ environmental minister workers were fired in 3 years

19
Q

How was MINIS expanded?

A

It was rolled out to other ministers

20
Q

By 1988, how many civil servants were sacked?

A

22.5% of civil servants had been sacked - saving £1 billion

21
Q

What did the 1988 ‘Next steps’ report advise?

A

A less centralised civil service + more flexible ‘agencies’ that could work with the private sector

22
Q

By 1991, how many private agencies had been made to replace parts of the civil service?

A

57 of these agencies - by 1997 76% of the civil service worked in 100 different agencies

23
Q

What did Brian Harrison say about the changes in the civil service under Thatcher?

A

Brian Harrison - ‘ the most substantial revolution within the civil service since the 1850s’

24
Q

Were Thatcher’s changes to the cuvi service succesful?

A

YES

  • Thatcher slimmed down the civil service (by 1988 22,5% servants had been sacked)
  • Made it more coordinated and efficient (use of agencies instead of centralised service)
25
Q

How did Thatcher intend to change the local governments?

A

She wanted to slim down local government and reduce its independence

26
Q

What did the 1985 Local Government Act allow Thatcher to do?

A

Allowed her to abolish councils - Greater London Council + 6 others city councils abolished

27
Q

Why did Thatcher want to change local government?

A

Wanted to cripple the labour councils who tried to fight her policies