To what extent does the Conservative party still follow Thatcherite principals?

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         Thatcherism comprised a mixture of ideas and policies such as free markets, privatisation of industries, low taxation and little state involvement in people’s lives.  Some may argue that the Conservative party toady under David Cameron has drifted into a different  direction from Thatcherite policies, however others say that Thatcher still has a huge influence on the modern Conservative party.

One of Thatcher’s main policies was the privatisation of national industries and businesses for example British Telecom in 1981. Privatising these industries was thought to encourage competition and force them to offer cheaper and better services. It can be said that modern conservatives also agree with this idea of privatisation. In fact it seems David Cameron is looking to take further steps and take away government power from sectors such as schools and policing and give the public to freedom to control the state at local level.

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Also, Thatcher believed that taxes should be kept low as it would create more wealth for people and businesses. Not only would the extra wealth help people buy a property or allow businesses to expand more, it would also reduce government spending on welfare benefits. The conservatives still believe in reducing tax when possible, however due to the economic recession in 2008 and the countries huge debt, tax cuts have been put on hold. Furthermore Cameron believes that tax cuts should not cut the quality of public services.

        It is also fair to say that the Conservatives in both ...

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3 Stars - This essay has many strong points. It is well structured and argued and is evaluative and analytical - there is a clear understanding of the main issues demonstrated here. Although many of the points here are valid in themselves, there is a lack of detail that weakens some of the argument. I also think that there could be an exploration of the idea that Thatcherism is effectively the new consensus in British politics, and that the comparison could have been extended to New Labour too!