Thatcher and Rolling back the state

Question 1

what is corporatism?

Answer 1

A method of managing and organising the the economy through having representatives from governement and businesses negotiate on pay and prices.

Question 2

what did thatcher think of corporatism?

Answer 2

she believed it hindered innovation and profit.

Question 3

what did Thatcher do regarding corporatism?

Answer 3

in 1979 she put an end to corporatism and let the “free-market” decided prices and wage.

Question 4

what is Keynsianism?

Answer 4

a method used to boost economy through 1945 -1979, and is the practise of increasing public spending and reducing taxation.

Question 5

what did thatcher do about Keynsianism?

Answer 5

she found it to be a cause of inflation, and therefore rejected it - however she still maintained intervention in the economy just through alternative methods such as monetary measures and supply side economics.

Question 6

how did thatcher deal with trade unions?

Answer 6

she introduced a series of measures and policies in order to control the unions rather than negotiate with them.

Question 7

what are the acts thatcher passed in order to gain control over trade unions?

Answer 7

the employment act 1980 - this stopped and criminalised secondary action and secondary picketing, which meant preventing other people from joining strikes started in a different industry.

the employment act 1982 - made it illegal businesses to enforce membership of TU’s

the trade union act 1984 - made strikes illegal if they didn’t hold a secret ballot and win a majority.

Question 8

how did Thatcher feel about defence?

Answer 8

thatcher wanted increased defence in this country and was increasingly worried about Russian-communist organisations infiltration into Britain.

Question 9

what was the name of the range of nuclear weapons thatcher bought and when did she buy them?

Answer 9

Trident, 1980, bought from the US and cost Britain £7.5 billion every year for the first 15 years.

Question 10

how much did defence spending increase between 1979 - 1986?

Answer 10

20%

Question 11

did thatcher increase law and order

Answer 11

Thatcher significantly increased the power of the police and introduced “sus laws”

Question 12

what did the “sus laws” allow the police to do?

Answer 12

increased their rights to stop and search any black person especially in London, Brixton - due to the majority of muggings being committed by black people.

Question 13

what acts did she pass that increased the powers of the police?

Answer 13

the police and criminal evidence act 1984 - this allowed police to search cars and enter property.
public order act 1986 allowed arrests to be made against demonstrators.

the criminal justice act 1982 and 1988, introduced shorter but tougher prison sentences for young offenders “short sharp shock”

Question 14

what was GCHQ?

Answer 14

Government communication headquarters - dealt with secret intelligence and intercepting communications.

Question 15

what was enforced regarding GCHQ in 1981?

Answer 15

banning of trade union membership for employee’s of GCHQ - due to thatcher believing that it threatened national security.

Question 16

what was the “zircon affair” ?

Answer 16

refers to the banning of a BBC television programme based on a secret government spy satellite called Zircon. 1985 Duncan Campbell discovered evidence of this satellite and worked with BBC to produce a documentary about the satellite. - he was banned from discussing the issue with Anyone.

Question 17

why did Thatcher want to reduce public housing?

Answer 17

she believed it created a dependency culture - people who were dependent on the state.

she also thought that the private sector would build better houses than the public sector

as well as wanting to increase the individual freedom and personal responsibility of people.

Question 18

what was the “right-to-buy act” ?

Answer 18

1975, this gave tenants of council houses the right to buy their own house. if the tenant had been living in their house for more than three years the could buy it at a 33% discount, and if they had lived their for more than 20 years they could buy their house a a 50% discount.

Question 19

how did the public feel about the right to buy act?

Answer 19

it was very popular and half a million people every year between 1980 - 1989 bought their houses.

Question 20

what act was passed which reduced the budget of the council?

Answer 20

the 1988 housing act - banned local authorites using money from the sold houses on building other projects, this lead to no more houses being built.

Question 21

when did thatcher begin privitisation?

Answer 21

her first term

Question 22

what is an example of thatcher’s privitisation?

Answer 22

1984 British Telecom.

Question 23

how did thatcher feel about the civil service?

Answer 23

she didn’t like or trust them and felt they were an insuffecient faction that wasn’t creating wealth.

Question 24

what did thatcher do to reduce the size of the civil service?

Answer 24

introduced an efficiency unit

cut the civil servants by 25%

Question 25

why did Thatcher want to reduce local government?

Answer 25

1. they accounted for 28.1% of gov spending

2. she believed they promoted socialist values and prevented individual success and freedom.

Question 26

what measures did thatcher take to reduce the power of local government?

Answer 26

reducing spending, rate capping, pole tax, and the greater London council.

Question 27

how much did they reduce local gov?

Answer 27

cut spending from £44 million in 1979 - £39 million in 1984. - this was an attempt to reduce spending in the local gov

Question 28

how did they react?

Answer 28

• increased rates (local taxation.), rate bill 1984 was passed allowed the gov to put a limit of local taxation.

Question 29

what was rate capping?

Answer 29

limiting the amount of taxation, this led to protests amongst labour local authorities aggainst the rates bill in 1984 liverpool.

Question 30

how did the gov react to the protests against the rates bill?

Answer 30

they allowed 6 councils to set higher rates/

Question 31

what was the pole tax?

Answer 31

local government finance act 1988 and was replacing rates which meant people paid based on the value of the property rather than income - the poll tax was a flat rate and meant rich and poor were all paying the same amount and was very controversial.

Question 32

how successful was thatcher in rolling back the local gov?

Answer 32

local gov spending was 14% higher than it had been in 1979 suggesting it didn’t make much difference, however when looking at GDP local government accounted for much less GDP in 1997 than previously.

Question 33

did thatcher privitise the NHS?

Answer 33

no, but she did introduce some radical reforms in the 80’s including making resources and supplies being bought from the private sector.

Question 34

how did thatcher increase social security (benefits)

Answer 34

Thatcher increased social security due to increased unemployment it meant it was necessary. in 1986 the social security act introduced a means testing making it more difficult to claim benefits. `

Question 35

what did Thatcher do to pensions?

Answer 35

thatcher wanted to increase private pensions and reduce the dependence on state pension.

Question 36

how did Thatcher increase gov intervention in schools?

Answer 36

she created a national curriculum.