The Impact of Thatcherism on Health and Well-Being in Britain

Abstract

Margaret Thatcher (1925-2013) was the United Kingdom's prime minister from 1979 to 1990. Her informal transatlantic alliance with U.S. President Ronald Reagan from 1981 to 1989 played an important role in the promotion of an international neoliberal policy agenda that remains influential today. Her critique of UK social democracy during the 1970s and her adoption of key neoliberal strategies, such as financial deregulation, trade liberalization, and the privatization of public goods and services, were popularly labeled Thatcherism. In this article, we consider the nature of Thatcherism and its impact on health and well-being during her period as prime minister and, to a lesser extent, in the years that follow; we focus mainly on Great Britain (England, Scotland, and Wales). Thatcher's policies were associated with substantial increases in socioeconomic and health inequalities: these issues were actively marginalized and ignored by her governments. In addition, her public-sector reforms applied business principles to the welfare state and prepared the National Health Service for subsequent privatization.

Fantasy paradigms of health inequalities: Utopian thinking?

“…The Thatcher-led Conservative government, in power from 1979-90, refused to engage in any way with health inequalities (Scott-Samuel et al, 2014) and its successor, the Major Conservative government, in power from 1990-97, acknowledged only that there were 'health variations', with government responsibility explicitly restricted to Whitehall and NHS policy (Department of Health, 1995).…”

Planning for an (un)certain future: Choice within English end-of-life care

“…Scott-Samuel et al, 2013) and the notion of patient choice (Bryant et al, 2007). Yet, the way neoliberal values are adopted varies internationally; understanding local articulations of these values helps describe the limits of neoliberalism as a totalizing force (Kingfisher and Maskovsky, 2008).…”

Thatcherism, Crime and the Legacy of the Social and Economic ‘Storms’ of the 1980s

“…While distinct from our focus on crime rates, studies of changes in health and well‐being have pursued similar questions with regards to the effect of government policies on mortality (Scott‐Samuel et al . ; Shipton, Whyte and Walsh ). For example, Scott‐Samuel et al .…”

“…Similar research which has connected Thatcherite policies to adverse social and economic outcomes has started to be undertaken in other branches of the social and medical sciences. While distinct from our focus on crime rates, studies of changes in health and well-being have pursued similar questions with regards to the effect of government policies on mortality (Scott-Samuel et al 2014;Shipton, Whyte and Walsh 2013). For example, Scott-Samuel et al (2014) find that 'Thatcher's policies were associated with substantial increases in socioeconomic and health inequalities' (p.53), before going on to demonstrate that Thatcherite social and economic policies were associated with the 'unnecessary and unjust death of many British citizens together with a substantial and continuing burden of suffering and loss of well-being' (p.66).…”

“…While distinct from our focus on crime rates, studies of changes in health and well-being have pursued similar questions with regards to the effect of government policies on mortality (Scott-Samuel et al 2014;Shipton, Whyte and Walsh 2013). For example, Scott-Samuel et al (2014) find that 'Thatcher's policies were associated with substantial increases in socioeconomic and health inequalities' (p.53), before going on to demonstrate that Thatcherite social and economic policies were associated with the 'unnecessary and unjust death of many British citizens together with a substantial and continuing burden of suffering and loss of well-being' (p.66). Shipton, Whyte and Walsh (2013) use officiallyrecorded data on the cause of death for three UK cities to show that the cohort of people born in the 1940s and 1950s (and who were in their 30s and 40s during the 1980s) had the highest levels of mortality in Glasgow (one of the regions hardest hit by economic policies during the 1980s), which changed from cardiovascular and heart disease to deaths associated with alcohol, drugs, suicide, and violence.…”