Margaret Thatchers Effect on British Society
... As Margaret Thatcher and the Tories took reign of the British government in 1979, a three decade attempt at semi-socialism in England had left the formerly great nation in economic disarray. At the heart of the new conservatism which Thatcher exemplified was a desire to put British industry back in the hands of business and not government, and this was gradually accomplished through a series of business-minded political manoeuvres. ... Control over the unions which had plagued British government and citizenry in previous decades was of tremendous interest to the Thatcher government. ... Strikes and unionized labour were becoming an increasingly detrimental aspect of British business. ... This had the effect of making British goods uncompetitive. ... In 1983, almost 50% of the British workforce was unionized, far more than Britains main competitors, and around four million union members were working in a closed shop . ... Scargill demanded that even uneconomic coal pits could not be closed, a preposterous demand and one that was inharmonious with a free market society. ... Thatchers help. ... Margaret Thatcher made it easier for businesses to sue unions for unlawful acts, both by unions themselves and by their members. ... Thatcherism ushered in a new era of government business relations where more economic power was given to the British people and workers, and less to the labour union elite. The legacy of Thatchers anti-union stance is such that when the announcement of the closure of 30 more pits came in October 1992, the Trade Unions Congress felt that they could take no effective action, a response which would have been unthinkable before 1979 . ... A policy of privatization in industry was a foreign concept to the British in the 1970s, but by 1983, British Aerospace and the National Freight Consortium flourished with the private sector. In the ‘83 election, Thatcher promised to further her privatization program to include Cable and Wireless, Associated British Ports, and British Rail Hotels . ... One of Margaret Thatcher’s biggest goals was to make British business competitive in the emerging global economy. ... As Thatcher took over the reigns of the British government, GDP was falling, but between 1981 and 1988, GDP rose by 27% under Thatcher’s economic planning . ... According to a June 1999 poll, Margaret Thatcher is regarded by UK company directors as having had the most positive influence in British business in the last century. ... The impact of Thatcherism on British business cannot be understated.