Thatcherism and the public sector

This article analyses the impact of Thatcher's economic reforms upon the UK public sector. It argues that Thatcherism was a continuation, albeit pursued with a stronger conviction, of changes in economic policy perspectives which had been initiated many years earlier. What became known as Thatcherism began life incompletely formed. Its precise form emerged subsequently through its implementation. Thatcher's original intentions to tame the public sector and to roll back the frontiers of the state were frustrated by the reality of events. Making real cuts in public spending proved to be difficult while expenditure on social security increased rapidly, partly as a result of the economic policies of the first Thatcher government. The ‘burden’ of taxation was not reduced, although marginal rates of income tax did fall. A feature of the Thatcher governments was a move towards introducing greater amounts of managerialism into the public sector in an attempt to secure efficiency improvements in the delivery of public services. This has produced mixed results.