Thatcher Political and Social Division Flashcards
regional divisons
conservatives lost support in Scotland
1979: 21 seats
1997: 0 seats
Scottish Nationalism gained a boost - led to devolution under New Labour
lost support in Wales - welsh nationalism boosted
conservatives did well in the South East , area that most benefited from Thatchers policies
special advisers and career politicians
- Thatcher accelerates trend to use outside advisers rather than career civil servants for policy advise
- Number of politicians with a university degree rose from 40% in 1918 to 75% in 2010
- Fraction of Labour MPs from a manual worker background was 1/3 in 1945, but 1/10 in 2010
- Number of MP’s from legal background declined since 1979 from 70% in 1974 to 30% in 1997
*Thatcher changed the riles of political organisations and caused other parties to change their approach in order to succeed
social divisions
Regressive taxes took a larger percentage of the poor’s income than the income of the rich
policies aimed at cutting inflation cut spending on the poor = unemployment among manufacturing work
cuts in income tax benefited Ruch more than poor -
1989 bottom 10% paid £400 million less in income tax
top 10% paid £9.3 billion less
number of pensioners living below the poverty line increased from 13% to 43%
1979-1992
income of richest rose 61% between
income of poorest decreased by 18%
middle class divided by Thatcher - many against her attack on the public sector
only 55% of middle class voters voted conservative in 1987, fewer than any time since 1918
BUT middle class grew , increasing income gap between rich and poor is sign of growing economy
regional divisions
London and SE got richer and became more productive BUT productivity decline the NE and NW
= North south divide created
tried to address the problems by enterprise zones
- private areas where firms received government funds to move in and generate growth
- led to some impressive urban renewal projects (Albert Docks)
BUT wider success was limited
number of economically inactive people in former industrial areas to continued to increase in 1990-97
1/10 men in coalfields were unemployed
Wales
- South Wales suffered badly from the decline of the mining areas
- 73 000 people were unemployed in 1979, 166 000 in 1986
- Just 3000 people worked in mining in Wales by 1990
- 90% of the workforce in the country was lost
- Unemployment led to social problems like drug abuse, homelessness and crime; 1, 308 drug
offenses were recorded in Wales in 1990, compared with 605 in 1979 - However economic growth was experienced in other areas of Wales
o Spending on the NHS increased from £500 million in 1979 to £1.5 billion in 1990
o GDP per person increased from £7000 to £20 300
o Number of school-leavers seeking further education or training increased from 20% to 47%
between 1974 to 1991
conservatives
gained support from a divided conservatives part
- careful not to criticise Heaths U turn before 1974
- enlisted a ‘wet’ Willie Whitelaw to her side - everyone needs a willie’
- rallied the conservatives around her free marked patriotic views before 1979
- was not careful not to ignore the back benchers
ending consensus politics: introduced new political ideas of individualism , low taxation and free market liberalism
- ended conservative support for full employment and nationalised industries
- fought to save Britain from creeping socialism
new conservative elite: changed the social makeup of the Conservative party
- “less posh’ MPs educated at public schools dropped from 75% to 66%
- like Thatcher middle class grammar shcools , self made success made up 44% of MPs in 1987
BUT mainly men. females increased from 9 to 41
Labour
why? Thatcher challenged creeping socialism aggressively and successfully = forced to readjust to become electable
disillusionment with labour:
labour unable to deal with strikes in 70s - 1979 winter of discontent
attacked by right wing for being “loony left” due to labour activism and militant tendency
eg: group of extreme left wingers who gained control of Liverpool branch
policies :
1983 manifesto =”longest suicide note in history”
policies included scrapping nuclear weapons , withdrawal from EEC and more direct control over banks
- did nothing to deal with the problems facing Britain (high unemployment , decline of industries, riots) = labour looked out of touch
leadership:
leader Michael Foot was scruffy with strong socialist opinions without appeal to ordinary voter
electorate:
thatchers tackling of unions and deindustrialisation diminished labours traditional voter base
right to buy increased conservative support amongst middle class- 60% of labour voters who bought their house voted conservatives
1981- Gang of Four broke away from labour and formed SDP
concerned by TU power
labour then had to compete with SDP for votes
