Thatcher key facts

Question 1

What did the 1984 Trade Union Act do?

Answer 1

a strike had to be approved by a majority of union members before taking place (trying to limit numbers of illegal strikes)

Question 2

How did Thatcher’s closure of 20 coal pits across Britain impact the mining workforce?

Answer 2

1974 - 200,000 miners compared to just 10,000 in 1981
(90% of the coal mining workforce lost)

Question 3

What did a poll in June 1984 display about attitudes of Britons toward increased police power?

Answer 3

77% of people agreed with the way the police handled the riot at orgreave pit

Question 4

When did Thatcher introduce the Right to Buy Housing Act and how was this negative in some ways?

Answer 4

• 1980
• whilst house ownership increased, mortgage debt increased (43bn to 235bn) - 20% of families were in debt

Question 5

What did the 1986 Public Order Act do?

Answer 5

• creates new offence ‘disorderly conduct’ to control miners strikes better
• stop and search powers increased for the police

Question 6

When did Thatcher deregulate currency and what did this lead to?

Answer 6

• 1986
• boom of financial services in London, also led to the 2008 financial crash

Question 7

What were the figures of unemployment in 1982?

Answer 7

unemployment had risen to just over 3m (highest number since the great depression in the 30s)

Question 8

How did inflation change in the 80s?

Answer 8

• 22% in 1983
• however decreased to single figures, never went above 9% for the rest of the decade

Question 9

When did Thatcher privatise British Telecom and how did she try to promote popular capitalism?

Answer 9

• 1984
• sold shares for cheap allowing the British public to buy, however failed as they didn’t reinvest

Question 10

How was Thatcher’s belief in popular capitalism ultimately unsuccessful?

Answer 10

only 20% of individuals owned shares, only 9% of unskilled workers owned shares

Question 11

How was tax cut during the 80s?

Answer 11

• 1980 - top rate of tax is cut from 83% to 60%, cut again in 1988 to 40%

Question 12

How did Thatcher reduce benefits?

Answer 12

reduced from 61% of the average wage to 53% of the average wage
pensioners especially were in poverty

Question 13

How did the gap between the rich and poor increase?

Answer 13

income of top earners on average was 3x that of low earners in the 70s

Question 14

How did people overall become richer?

Answer 14

average gdp increased from £7000 pp to £20,000 pp

Question 15

When did Thatcher introduce the community charge (poll tax) and how was this received by the public?

Answer 15

1989 - introduced in scotland
1990 - introduced in England
• conservatives didn’t gain any seats in scotland
• 200,000 protesters gathered in trafalgar square