Thatcherism

Full Description

The political and economic programme of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (1979–1990), combining monetarist economics, privatisation of nationalised industries, trade union legislation designed to break union power, deregulation of financial markets, and a confrontational approach to the welfare state. Thatcher’s government defeated the miners’ strike of 1984–85, sold council houses to their tenants, privatised British Telecom, British Gas, British Airways, and the water utilities, and liberalised the City of London through the 1986 “Big Bang.”

Critical Perspective

Thatcherism transformed Britain’s economic model and political culture in ways that proved largely irreversible — successive Labour governments accepted its basic framework. But its costs were distributed very unevenly: the de-industrialisation of the north of England and South Wales created concentrations of long-term unemployment and social deprivation that persisted for decades, while financial deregulation created the City of London’s dominance of the British economy and the instability that contributed to the 2008 financial crisis. The regional and class divisions Thatcherism deepened continue to shape British politics.