Editing Margaret Thatcher (section)

====Economy and taxation====
{{See also|June 1979 United Kingdom budget|l1=1979 budget}}
{{Margaret Thatcher/datatable}}
Thatcher's economic policy was influenced by [[monetarist]] thinking and economists such as [[Milton Friedman]] and [[Alan Walters]].{{sfnp|Childs|2006|p=185}} Together with her first [[Chancellor of the Exchequer|chancellor]], [[Geoffrey Howe]], she lowered direct taxes on income and increased indirect taxes.{{sfnp|Reitan|2003|p=30}} She increased interest rates to slow the growth of the money supply, and thereby lower inflation;{{sfnp|Childs|2006|p=185}} introduced cash limits on public spending and reduced expenditure on social services such as education and housing.{{sfnp|Reitan|2003|p=30}} Cuts to higher education led to Thatcher being the first [[Oxonian]] post-war prime minister without an honorary doctorate from Oxford University after a 738–319 vote of the governing assembly and a student petition.<ref>{{Cite news |title=29 January 1985: Thatcher snubbed by Oxford dons |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/29/newsid_2506000/2506019.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130724131128/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/29/newsid_2506000/2506019.stm |archive-date=24 July 2013 |access-date=9 April 2007 |work=On This Day 1950–2005 |via=BBC News Online}}</ref>

Some Heathite Conservatives in the Cabinet, the so-called "[[wets]]", expressed doubt over Thatcher's policies.<ref>{{Cite news |title=10 October 1980: Thatcher 'not for turning' |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/10/newsid_2541000/2541071.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130724131113/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/10/newsid_2541000/2541071.stm |archive-date=24 July 2013 |access-date=21 December 2008 |work=On This Day 1950–2005 |via=BBC News Online}}</ref> The [[1981 England riots]] resulted in the British media discussing the need for a [[Flip-flop (politics)|policy U-turn]]. At the 1980 Conservative Party conference, Thatcher addressed the issue directly with a speech written by the playwright [[Ronald Millar]],{{sfnp|Jones|2007|p=224}} that notably included the following lines:{{blockquote|To those waiting with bated breath for that favourite media catchphrase, the "U" turn, I have only one thing to say. "You turn if you want to. [[The lady's not for turning]]."<ref>{{Cite web |date=10 October 1980 |title=Speech to Conservative Party Conference ('the lady's not for turning') |url=https://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/104431 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180105144306/https://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/104431 |archive-date=5 January 2018 |access-date=31 March 2018 |publisher=Margaret Thatcher Foundation}}</ref>}}

{{See also|1981 United Kingdom budget|l1=1981 budget}}
Thatcher's job approval rating fell to 23% by December 1980, lower than recorded for any previous prime minister.{{sfnp|Thornton|2004|p=18}} As the [[Early 1980s recession|recession of the early 1980s]] deepened, she increased taxes,{{sfnp|Reitan|2003|p=31}} despite concerns expressed in a March 1981 statement signed by 364&nbsp;leading economists,<ref>{{Cite news |date=31 March 1981 |title=An avalanche of economists |url=http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itw/infomark/263/101/138526786w16/purl=rc1_TTDA_0_CS285575295&dyn=75!xrn_1_0_CS285575295&hst_1?sw_aep=mclib |url-access=limited |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120714012618/http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itweb/mclib?http_rc=400&class=session&sev=temp&type=session&cause=http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itw/infomark/263/101/138526786w16/purl%3Drc1_TTDA_0_CS285575295%26dyn%3D75!xrn_1_0_CS285575295%26hst_1%3Fsw_aep%3Dmclib&cont=&msg=No+Session+cookies&sserv=no |archive-date=14 July 2012 |access-date=12 January 2011 |work=[[The Times]] |page=17}}</ref> which argued there was "no basis in economic theory [...] for the Government's belief that by deflating demand they will bring inflation permanently under control", adding that "present policies will deepen the depression, erode the industrial base of our economy and threaten its social and political stability".<ref>{{Cite web |date=13 March 1981 |title=Economy: Letter of the 364 economists critical of monetarism (letter sent to academics and list of signatories) |url=https://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/121217 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180401144432/https://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/121217 |archive-date=1 April 2018 |access-date=31 March 2018 |publisher=Margaret Thatcher Foundation}}</ref>

[[File:Margaret Thatcher visiting Salford.jpg|thumb|alt=photograph|Visiting [[Salford University]] in 1982]]
By 1982, the UK began to experience signs of economic recovery;{{sfnp|Floud|Johnson|2004|p=392}} inflation was down to 8.6% from a high of 18%, but unemployment was over 3&nbsp;million for the first time since the 1930s.<ref>{{Cite news |title=26 January 1982: UK unemployment tops three million |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/26/newsid_2506000/2506335.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180221074348/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/26/newsid_2506000/2506335.stm |archive-date=21 February 2018 |access-date=16 April 2010 |work=On This Day 1950–2005 |via=BBC News Online}}</ref> By 1983, overall economic growth was stronger, and inflation and mortgage rates had fallen to their lowest levels in 13 years, although manufacturing employment as a share of total employment fell to just over 30%,{{sfnp|Rowthorn|Wells|1987|page=234}} with total unemployment remaining high, peaking at 3.3&nbsp;million in 1984.<ref>{{Cite news |last=O'Grady |first=Sean |date=16 March 2009 |title=Unemployment among young workers hits 15 per cent |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/unemployment-among-young-workers-hits-15-per-cent-1645728.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130724123849/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/unemployment-among-young-workers-hits-15-per-cent-1645728.html |archive-date=24 July 2013 |access-date=21 November 2010 |work=The Independent}}</ref>

During the 1982 Conservative Party Conference, Thatcher said: "We have done more to roll back the frontiers of socialism than any previous Conservative Government."<ref>{{Cite web |date=8 October 1982 |title=Speech to Conservative Party Conference |url=https://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/105032 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180408073302/https://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/105032 |archive-date=8 April 2018 |access-date=7 April 2018 |publisher=Margaret Thatcher Foundation}}</ref> She said at the Party Conference the following year that the British people had completely rejected [[state socialism]] and understood "the state has no source of money other than money which people earn themselves [...] There is no such thing as public money; there is only taxpayers' money."<ref>{{Cite web |date=14 October 1983 |title=Speech to Conservative Party Conference |url=https://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/105454 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180408010401/https://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/105454 |archive-date=8 April 2018 |access-date=7 April 2018 |publisher=Margaret Thatcher Foundation}}</ref>

By 1987, unemployment was falling, the economy was stable and strong, and inflation was low. Opinion polls showed a comfortable Conservative lead, and [[1987 United Kingdom local elections|local council election]] results had also been successful, prompting Thatcher to call a general election for 11&nbsp;June that year, despite the deadline for an election still being 12 months away. The [[1987 United Kingdom general election|election]] saw Thatcher re-elected for a third successive term.<ref>{{Cite news |title=11 June 1987 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/politics97/background/pastelec/ge87.shtml |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111203222938/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/politics97/background/pastelec/ge87.shtml |archive-date=3 December 2011 |access-date=14 November 2011 |work=Politics 97 |via=BBC News Online}}</ref>

Thatcher had been firmly opposed to British membership of the [[Exchange Rate Mechanism]] (ERM, a precursor to [[European Economic and Monetary Union]]), believing that it would constrain the British economy,<ref name="ecc">{{Cite news |last=Riddell |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Riddell |date=23 November 1987 |title=Thatcher stands firm against full EMS role |url=http://www.margaretthatcher.org/speeches/displaydocument.asp?docid=106969 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080420095953/http://www.margaretthatcher.org/speeches/displaydocument.asp?docid=106969 |archive-date=20 April 2008 |access-date=8 October 2008 |work=Financial Times}}</ref> despite the urging of both Chancellor of the Exchequer [[Nigel Lawson]] and Foreign Secretary Geoffrey Howe;{{sfnp|Thatcher|1993|p=712}} in October 1990 she was persuaded by [[John Major]], Lawson's successor as chancellor, to join the ERM at what proved to be too high a rate.{{sfnp|Marr|2007|p=484}}

Thatcher reformed local government taxes by replacing [[Rates (tax)|domestic rates]] (a tax based on the nominal rental value of a home) with the [[Community Charge]] (or poll tax) in which the same amount was charged to each adult resident.<ref name="polltax">{{Cite news |last=Passell |first=Peter |date=23 April 1990 |title=Furor Over British Poll Tax Imperils Thatcher Ideology |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE7DD1030F930A15757C0A966958260 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130602032717/http://www.nytimes.com/1990/04/23/business/furor-over-british-poll-tax-imperils-thatcher-ideology.html |archive-date=2 June 2013 |access-date=30 October 2008 |work=The New York Times}}</ref> The new tax was introduced in Scotland in 1989 and in England and Wales the following year,{{sfnp|Reitan|2003|pp=87–88}} and proved to be among the most unpopular policies of her premiership.{{r|polltax}} Public disquiet culminated in a 70,000 to 200,000-strong<ref name="trafalgarsq num">{{Cite news |last=Graham |first=David |date=25 March 2010 |title=The Battle of Trafalgar Square: The poll tax riots revisited |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/the-battle-of-trafalgar-square-the-poll-tax-riots-revisited-1926873.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180119102840/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/the-battle-of-trafalgar-square-the-poll-tax-riots-revisited-1926873.html |archive-date=19 January 2018 |access-date=8 April 2013 |work=The Independent}}</ref> demonstration in London in March 1990; the demonstration around [[Trafalgar Square]] deteriorated into [[Poll tax riots|riots]], leaving 113 people injured and 340 under arrest.<ref name="otd pt">{{Cite news |title=31 March 1990: Violence flares in poll tax demonstration |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/31/newsid_2530000/2530763.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130409013226/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/31/newsid_2530000/2530763.stm |archive-date=9 April 2013 |access-date=30 October 2008 |work=On This Day 1950–2005 |via=BBC News Online}}</ref> The Community Charge was abolished in 1991 by her successor, John Major.{{r|otd pt}} It has since transpired that Thatcher herself had failed to register for the tax and was threatened with financial penalties if she did not return her form.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Narwan |first=Gurpreet |date=30 December 2016 |title=Threat of fine for unpaid poll tax sent to No 10 |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/threat-of-fine-for-unpaid-poll-tax-sent-to-no-10-szqwdrlb6 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20210821195006/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/threat-of-fine-for-unpaid-poll-tax-sent-to-no-10-szqwdrlb6 |archive-date=21 August 2021 |access-date=22 October 2020 |work=[[The Times]]}}</ref>