Thatcher Rolling Back the State Flashcards
Rolling back the state
EDUCATION background + aims
- radical reforms came after 1987
- Callaghan in 1976 speech asked questions why so many pupils were leaving school lacking basic literacy and numeracy skills
aims
- Thatcher wanted to raise education standards and give more value for money
- (Felt that the teaching profession and Local Education Authorities are hostile to the measures required to fulfil these aims, thought they are engaged in a conspiracy to protect inadequate teachers and promote “soft child centred learning” rather than promoting academic success)
Rolling back the state
EDUCATION- changes and consequences
Keith Jospeh - began process of raising standards and creating a national curriculum by merging O level and the secondary leaving certificate into one GCSE (hugely interested and personally approved new syllabuses
act imposed in 1983, extended education proven for those with special needs
EDUCATION ACT 1988(intended to free schools from tight local authority controls, power given to school governors and parents representatives were to dominate these bodies rather than the nominees of the local authority. )
- imposing a national curriculum and introduced ‘key stages’ with examinations. exam results used in league tables to encourage completion and increase standards and encourage parents to pick the best schools for their children
CONSEQUENCES
- “ Better” schools are quickly over subscribed, demand for schools increased house prices in the catchment areas- poor families were priced out of good schools
- Schools also allowed to get funding directly from central government, reducing the power of LEAs, giving head teachers and governors more control of budgets and spending
- 1200 schools became more independent this way (19% of secondary schools) BUT the introduction of the National curriculum mean that thatcher’s preferred educational reforms led to an increase in central government interference in this areas
rolling back the state
NHS- aims
thatcher wanted to slash NHS just like civil service and abolished tax funding entirely and enforce private health insurance
BUT the NHS was the ‘crown jewel’ of the welfare state
tried to raise standards of efficiency through introducing the principles of competition and the market place and introduced bureaucratic accountability
*third election victory gave Thatcher confidence
rolling back the state
NHS - changes
between 1980 and 1987 spending on the NHS rose by 60% + NHS shares rose from 12 to 15
- majority of the public approved of free healthcare regardless of income; thatcher had to be more careful than she would have liked.
= everyone had access to health care but costs were spiralling
1989 WHITE PAPER: WORKING FOR PATIENTS
- called for the creation of an “internal market” where health authorities would purchase healthcare services form hospital trust
(to ensure that performance targets were hit and waste would be reduced)
CONSEQUENCES
- hospital trusts would run large hospitals and health authorities would by services
- trusts would be run professional managers rather than doctors
- GPs would control their budgets and choose when to refer patients for further treatment which they could “shop around”
- idea that bette provider would attract more demand from GPs and so success would be rewarded by higher funding
BUT
-reforms highly unpopular with doctors + did not deliver cost savings
- overall costs of the NHS rose by 25% between 1985 and 1991 (more treatment became available + twice as many people over 80 than in 1951)
- money spent on angers increased for £25.7 million to £383.8 million
- by 1996 34 hospitals were in debt
- attempt to cut costs impacted the quality of care (2% of hospitals beds lost )
-requirement to meet targets led to demoralisation among doctors and spent less time caring for patients to satisfy mangers needs
Thatchers views on rolling back the state
Strong moral values rooted in Methodist upbringing
* Felt state intervention was to blame for Britain’s decline; high taxes discouraged entrepreneurship, state ownership crushed innovation and competition, welfare state bred dependancy
* Welfare state = nanny state
* Wanted to break from consensus
* Inspirations:
Keith Joseph - new right conservative
Friedrich von Hayek - economist, published a book advocating against a large welfare state
Neo-liberalism - free market economic thinking, against state intervention and regulation, became popular among conservatives in the 70s
* Aims:
Reduce the size of the state - small government
Reduce government interference in people’s lives
Promote efficiency through privatisation and ‘contracting out’
labours government application for an IMF (international monetary fund) bail out (international loan to help with economic problems (humiliating)) +Winter of Discontent = British public to agree that something different had to be tried. TINA “ There Is No Alternative” was used to defend Thatchers controversial policies in the early 1980s
Rolling back the state
civil services
Originally 732 000 civil servants in Britain - 3x more than comparable nations
* brought in business-minded people and advisors from outside the government to help slim down the civil service
* abolished the Civil Service Department in 1981 - she saw it as a trade union
* MINIS - 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)
* ¼ environmental minister workers were fired in 3 years
* MINIS was rolled out to other ministries
* By 1988 22.5% of civil servants had been sacked - saving £1 billion
* ‘Next Steps’ report of 1988 recommended a less centralised civil service + more flexible ‘agencies’ that could work with the private sector
* By 1991 there were 57 of these agencies - by 1997 76% of the civil service worked in 100 different agencies
* Brian Harrison - ‘ the most substantial revolution within the civil service since the 1850s’
Success?
YES - Thatcher slimmed down the civil service (by 1988 22,5% servants had been sacked), made it more co-ordinated and efficient (use of agencies instead of centralised service).
rolling back the state
local government
- wanted to slim down the local government and reduce its independence = LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT 1985 ->enable her to abolish the councils she found troublesome (Greater London council + 6 other councils were dissolved) (represented government interference aimed to capture local councils run by left wingers who rejected her policies
cut down local payments- 60% to 49% of funding + introduced RATE CAPS to stop councils attempts to plug the funding gap by raising local rates. she hated that councils could promise generous benefits for people who did not have to pay for them. (aimed to make people responsible)
= rate caps on 18 councils. local governments would have to make cuts and raise funds. + undermines labour government, cannot fulfil socialist promises made
COMMUNITY CHARGE OF 1990 (POLL TAX)
widen a sense of financial responsibility. based on individuals rather than value of the property
charge is the same for everyone one
= poor paid a higher percentage of their income
=hugely unpopular -> protests = force to abandon tax and introduce tax linked to property value
encouraged councils to use ‘contracting out’ to promote greater efficiency and reduce costs
(Wandsworth was an example - by 1985 staff numbers in Wandsworth had fallen by 1/3)
RIGHT TO BUY 1980 (HOUSING ACT)
intended to reduce people dependence on local government and promote pride and responsibility through private ownership+ cut council spending on property: Scheme hugely popular 200 000 council houses sold between 1982-83
home ownership rose to 63%
lack of available council houses made it harder and more expensive for councils to house the poorest in society
MOSTLY SUCCESSFUL - Thatcher was able to reduce power of local government and slim it down, however in doing this she increased the power and interference of central government - against her aim
economic policies
trade unions
tackle trade unions to reduce influence of socialist institutions and promote individualism and popular capitalism. TUs bullied individuals workers into joining them, forced them into strike actions with no regard for democratically elected government.
(had been apart of Heath government, lost power due to 1974 mines strike= wanted to avoid mistakes)
number of working days lost 1980-84: 10.5 million
membership 1979: 13.5 million
power was undermined gradually through a series of unemployment acts:
1980: ended ‘closed shop’ (workers did not have to join a union when they joined a particular firm) + unions could only organise strikes against their direct employers and ended sympathy strikes
1982: unions could be sued for illegal action
1984: strikes and to be approved by a majority of union members in a secret ballot and thatcher built up coal reserves that would enable the government to resist miners strike without resorting to a three day week as heath had done
Miners strike and the decline of heavy industry:
* strike began in March 1984- less demand for energy
Scargill (NUM president) did not ballot NUM members about strike action choosing to lunch the strike with ‘flying pickets’
= miners in Nottinghamshire to leave NUM and set up their own union which voted to keep mines open
Scargill lost public sympathy due to provocative methods: (public disproval rating never fell below 79%.
strike ended on March 1985
