6 Roll Back the State

Question 1

What were Thatcher’s beliefs regarding state intervention?

Answer 1

• Free market would ensure economic liberty

- Strong state would protect political freedom

Question 2

In what areas did Thatcher want to roll back the state due to thinking it would end inefficiency and inflation as well as boosting economy growth?

Answer 2

• End Keynesianism - end state intervention and management of economy
• End corporatism
• Cut gov spending on welfare
• Cut direct taxes

Question 3

What did Thatcher believe political freedom was threatened by?

Answer 3

• USSR - needed nuclear weapons to protect GB.
• Powerful TUs who wanted to use undemocratic methods to force up wages.
• Terrorists, hooligans and muggers who threatened people with violence. Needed strong police force

Question 4

Why did Thatcher want to end corporatism?

Answer 4

Argued that corporatism stifled innovation and econ growth by giving gov control over crucial sectors of the economy. Wanted wages, prices, investment and production left to free market

Question 5

Why did Thatcher want to end Keynesian schemes?

Answer 5

Believed it led to high inflation rates and interfered with natural rhythms of the free market

Question 6

How didn’t Thatcher fully end economic intervention?

Answer 6

Spending was cut in order to reduce inflation and Lawson also cut taxes and manipulated interest rates
Intervened in different ways e.g monetarism

Question 7

How did Thatcher extend state power with regards to unions?

Answer 7

• The Employment Act (1980) criminalised secondary action
• The Employment Act (1982) had to have a majority of their members in a secret ballot to impose a closed shop
• Trade Union Act (1984) forced TUs to all a secret ballot and win a majority of support prior to starting strike action

Question 8

How did Thatcher strengthen defense policy in 1979?

Answer 8

US cruise missiles allowed to be stationed on GB territory. Believed this would deter military aggression for Soviet Union and allies in Europe.

Question 9

What expense nuclear weapon did Thatcher buy in 1980?

Answer 9

Trident - nuclear weapons from USA. Cost gov £7.5 billion for the first 15 years alone, thought it would deter Soviet invasion or nuclear strike.

Question 10

What did the 1981 defense review ensure?

Answer 10

Committed an increasing defense spending of 3% p/a

Question 11

What took place in 1986 with regards to defense?

Answer 11

Gave permission for US bomber stationed in GB to carry out bombing raids in Libya

Question 12

How was Thatcher not committed to rolling back the state in defense?

Answer 12

Spending rose by 20% between 1979 and 1986.

Question 13

How did Thatcher begin to roll back the state in terms of defense when it got too expensive?

Answer 13

• 1984-1986 18,000 troops made redundant
• Plans to buy new RAF fighter plane scrapped in 1986
• Navy reduced in size
• Defense spending fell by 7% from 1979-1989. Continued to fall from 1990-1997 by 12%.
• Cut conventional forces to fund nuclear weapons

Question 14

What was operation swamp ‘81?

Answer 14

Sus laws to stop and search black people in London, Brixton in particular, justified the campaign by saying most muggings were done by black people = Brixton Riots

Question 15

What did the The Police and Criminal Evidence Act (1984) do?

Answer 15

Expanded stop and search powers to cars and property

Question 16

What did the The Public Order Act (1986) do?

Answer 16

Gave police new powers to arrest and charge people in demonstrations and pickets. New offense of ‘disorderly conduct’ allowed arrest of people using insulting words.

Question 17

What did the The Criminal Justice Act (1982 and 1988) do?

Answer 17

Introduced shorter prison sentences for young offenders but tough conditions. Known as short, sharp, shock.

Question 18

What did the The Prevention of Terrorism Act (1989) do?

Answer 18

Extended police powers of stop and search.

Question 19

What was the GCHQ?

Answer 19

Responsible for providing gov with secret intelligence through intercepting and monitoring intelligence and keeping gov intelligence secret.

Question 20

What did the gov do in 1984 regarding the GCHQ?

Answer 20

Banned workers from being in a TU. Imposed in response to strikes at GCHQ in 1981 which had threatened control of secret info

Question 21

What was the Zircon Affair?

Answer 21

Banning of a documentary relating to secret spy satellite codenamed Zircon. 1985 a Scottish investigative journalist found that GB was planning to launch a satellite that would intercept transmissions from across GB, Europe and the Soviet Union.

Question 22

How did the government respond to the documentary of Zircon?

Answer 22

Gov put pressure on BBC not to release documentary in 1986. Story given to Observer. Gov gained order banning Campbell the researcher from speaking about his research or writing about it.

Question 23

How did the Thatcher gov interfere in the media?

Answer 23

• Spycatcher - memoir of former MI5 officer banned in England and Wales in 1985
• 1988 banned the broadcast of interviews with members of IRA, the Ulster Volunteer Force and Sinn Fein
• Put pressure on broadcasters to drop programmes on SAS and conflict in Northern Ireland

Question 24

What were the arguments against state suppression of information and what outcome did it have?

Answer 24

Gov ministers defended suppression of secret info. Critics claimed that state intervention took away free speech.
European Court of Human Rights overruled the bans

Question 25

How was law and order expanded?

Answer 25

• Law and order budget increased by 36% 1979-1989

- Prison population rose from 42,000 in 1979 to 48,000 in 1989, 60,000 by 1997

Question 26

Why was Thatcher against council houses from 1975 and for tenants buying their council house?

Answer 26

• Believed in a property owning democracy - gave people a stake in society
• Believed property ownership was an important aspect of freedom
• Believed that private sector would build better houses.

Question 27

What did the 1980 Housing Act do?

Answer 27

Gave council house tenants who had lived in their house for more than 3 years the right to buy their house at 33% discount or 50% if lived more than 20 years

Question 28

How popular was the 1980 Housing Act?

Answer 28

• Popular, 500,000 people bought their council house p/a from 1980-1989
• 1990-1997 160,000 bought per year
• Proportion of state owned houses fell from 31.5% in 1979 to 23.6% in 1989

Question 29

What did the 1988 Housing Act do?

Answer 29

Banned local authorities from spending money yielded on new building projects

Question 30

How did Thatcher try and make the civil service more efficient?

Answer 30

Established Efficiency Unit. Introduced Management Information System to monitor and reduce civil service costs. Next Steps report led to civil service setting targets and evaluating how they met them.

Question 31

What impact did Thatcher’s efficiency measures have on the civil service?

Answer 31

£1 billion worth of efficiency savings in civil service. Employees cut by 25%

Question 32

Local government was responsible for 28.1% of spending - MT thought they were using their powers to introduce socialist policies, how did she stop this?

Answer 32

• Cut funding from £44 million to £39 million (1979-1984), authorities responded by increasing local taxation.
• 1981 introduced a policy of targets and penalties. Set max targets for spending and if they exceeded this they had their budget reduced.

Question 33

What was the Rates Bill 1984?

Answer 33

Gave the gov the power to impose a cap on local taxation

Question 34

How did the Local Government Act 1988 make them more efficient?

Answer 34

Forced councils to outsource services from the private sector rather than provide them directly.

Question 35

How did local governments respond to the rates bill?

Answer 35

1984 Liverpool council set an illegal rate - campaign against rates bill but unsuccessful

Question 36

Why did Thatcher think the Greater London Council was too left wing, socialist and boarderline communist?

Answer 36

• GLC subsidised train fares ‘fare’s fair’ to reduce traffic and pollution
• Gave financial support to LGBT groups and other activist groups like RCT
• Spent the budget designed to prepare against nuclear attack on LGBT, gov cafes for subsidised meals, London ecological unit to protect wildlife habitats.
• Endorsed Nelson Mandela while he was seen as a terrorist and invited Sinn Fein leader to speak in London.

Question 37

How did Thatcher respond to the Greater London Council?

Answer 37

MT abolished GLC (Local Government Act, 1985)

Question 38

What controversial reform did Thatcher put in place with the idea to replace rates?

Answer 38

Poll tax based on the value of a property. All adults now paid the same tax (Local Government Finance Act 1988). Replaced by council tax in 1993.

Question 39

Did Thatcher roll back the state in terms of local government?

Answer 39

Spending on local government fell from 10% of GDP in 1979 to 8.3% in 1997

Question 40

How did Thatcher try to make the NHS more efficient in 1983 by appointing Sir Roy Griffiths?

Answer 40

• NHS hospitals required to outsource services to the private sector
• Internal market created in NHS, had to compete for district authority money
• Spending grew by 35% from 1979-1989

Question 41

How and why did social security spending increase?

Answer 41

Large rise in unemployment meant SS increased. 1986 Social Security Act introduced means tests to some universal benefits.

10. 6% of spending in 1979
11. 6% in 1995

Question 42

How did Thatcher try to make state pensions unattractive and what impact did it have?

Answer 42

State Earning Related Pension Scheme - set up to make gov pensions less attractive
Spending on pensions only fell by 0.2% by 1990

Question 43

How did Thatcher strengthen control over education?

Answer 43

National curriculum
Introduced standard tests at 7, 11, 14 and 16
League tables for parents to see which school was the best
OFSTED - 1992