Political and Social Division 1979/90 - The Impact of Thatcher 1979 - 1990

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Divisions between Right and Left

1945-1970
·       Post War Consensus - centre ground shifted left, socialist policies prevail
1970-1979
·       Centre ground still to the left, but failure of post-war consensus and rise of neoliberalism pushing things to the right, political titans Wilson and Health both centrist, pro-European
1979-1990
·       Centre ground shifts to the right under Thatcher, conservatives support her free market policies and reject the post-war consensus
1990-1997
·       Centre ground to the right, Labour adopt Thatcherite policies, particularly regarding the economy

Special advisers and career politicians

·       Thatcher accelerates trend to use outside advisers rather than career civil servants for policy advise
·       Voter turnout fell - linked to the rise of elite, career politicians
·       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
·       Number of MP’s who previously worked for political organisation increased from 3% in 1979 to 14% in 2010
·       Thatcher changed the rules of political organisations and caused other parties to change their approach in order to succeed

Social Division

Gap between rich and poor

·       Gap between rich and poor widened under Thatcher
·       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 and led to unemployment among manufacturing work
·       Cuts in income tax benefited rich more than poor - by 1989 bottom 10% paid £400 million less in income tax, top 10% paid £9.3 billion less
·       Proportion of pensioners living below the poverty line increased from 13% to 43%
·       Income of the richest rose 61% between 1979-1992, while income of the 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
·       However - the middle class grew, and one can argue than and increasing income gap between the rich and the poor is a sign of a growing economy

Regional Divisions

·       London and SE got richer and became more productive, while productivity declined the NE and NW
·       North-South divide created
·       Thatcher tried to address these problems through ‘enterprise zones’
o   These were private areas where firms received government funds to move in and generate growth
o   Led to some impressive urban renewal projects (Albert Docks, Liverpool)
o   Wider success was limited
·       Number of economically inactive people in former industrial areas continued to increase between 1990 and 1997 - by 2001 1/5 men in former coalfields were unemployed, up from 1/10 in 1981
·       Yorkshire, South Derbyshire and North Warwickshire bounced back but South Wales struggled

Wales

·       South Wales suffered badly from the decline of the mining areas
·       73 000 people were unemployed in Wales in 1979, rising to 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

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