Thatcher's policies and ideas

Question 1

Economic policy

Answer 1

-Thatcher greatly reduced taxes and public spending
-Top rate of income tax reduced from 83% to 40%, corporation tax 52 to 34%
-Public spending cut by 1b pounds. However, funding for police and armed forces was not reduced
-‘Right-to-buy’ scheme allowed people to purchase and own their own council houses.

Question 2

Law and Order Policy

Answer 2

-Took on unions, called them the ‘enemy within’. Used police against striking workers, often violently
-Tough on crime, increased funding for police and armed forces

Question 3

Welfare Policy

Answer 3

Thatcher cut the budgets of many government departments and reduced some benefits, but didn’t privatize the NHS due to the strong public support for it.

Question 4

Foreign policy

Answer 4

-Assertive foreign policy, ‘iron lady’
-Strong relationship with Reagan and the US, anti-USSR and project British interest in Falklands
-Refused to impose sanctions on apartheid South Africa and described Nelson Mandela as a ‘terrorist’

Question 5

Section 28 Local Government Act 1988

Answer 5

-Introduced a ban on promoting homosexuality in schools, represented Thatcher supporting ‘Christian values’