All of these economic changes made by Margaret Thatcher were extremely right wing with very capitalist values. All her policies were heavily criticised by Labour which is why it seems strange that Tony Blair has adopted many of her values and policies. As labour were so against privatisation in the 1980’s most thought that they would try and change things when they were in power. This of course was not the case and in 1997 Tony Blair’s labour government showed willingness to keep privatisation as an option and private ownership plans were not disgarded as some thought they might be, they were in fact extended. Blair’s government planned to sell 51% of air traffic control and they also introduced private ownership in some of the London Underground’s busiest lines.
He then introduced the idea of Private Finance Initiative. The government feel they should be relieved of the bureaucratic burden of constructing and maintaining the countries state-owned schools, roads and hospitals. It is thought that this stops them from concentrating on policy and costs a huge amount of money. The current labour government believe that a simple solution is to sell to the private sector. This is very similar to Thatcher’s privatisation changes but there is one main difference. Instead of the government producing a large sum of money for a new school, for example, they agree to pay a private firm an annual fee, this is to cover the cost of the entire construction, maintenance and management.
One of the arguments against PFI is that this ‘letting’ of services could lead to actual services being taken over by private firms. For example the fear is that services such as teaching and healthcare will be in private hands. Not only is there the threat that standards will fall but this means a vast number of public-sector workers face losing employment rights. Chancellor, Gordon Brown supports PFI and thinks it is the quickest way of building new hospitals, schools etc. he also believes that PFI will help stretch the governments money in but in 2002 said
“The issue is not public good, private bad –or private good public bad.”
From this statement we can gather that even the government agree that there are problems and a risk involved with PFI, but they obviously think that the private out-weighs public.
The main question is why is labour adopting these economic changes when privatisation is a Tory idea? Blair has mimicked Thatcher which prompted many to raise the point of whether Tony Blair is a Tory Prime Minister leading a labour government. This is all part of New Labour and Tony Blair’s third way, described by many as a centre right party. Union Leader Bill Morris is a Labour loyalist but said
“The dividing line between our parties seems to be blurred if not erased altogether.”
It could be argued that the public no longer have a choice when voting. The socialist labour party doesn’t exist so does this mean we are all forced to vote for a Tory government with capitalist values. Labour Chairman Mr Reid argues that the distinction is clear and Labour's policies are based on an entirely different set of values. He added:
"The truth is that the Conservatives would have applied the same old Conservative solutions - cuts in public services, mass unemployment and further restriction of opportunity.”
New Labour and ‘the third way’ introduce the idea of political ideology. In 1945 and for two decade afterwards it seemed as if ideology as a feature in British politics was on the way out. This was due to the war and in this time the conservative government had accepted that labour would expand welfare services and nationalise a significant sector of the economy. At this time both parties seemed to have converged toward a general consensus on policies and values. There were more similarities between the parties than there were individual ideologies. But then in the 1960’s to the early 1970’s the rise of oil prices and the faltering of the British economy re-opened ideological debate. Then of course in 1979-1990 when Margaret Thatcher was in power ideological debate was at it highest because her policies were so radical. At this time the left were communists who believed in equality, collectivism and, collective ownership and the right were fascists who believed in freedom, individualism and free enterprise. Now with Tony Blair mimicking Thatcher actions the government is slipping so far centre right that ideology is again a thing of the past.
Also relevant is where Tony Blair stands on foreign policy compared with a Tory government under Margaret Thatcher. Tony Blair decided to take Britain to war with Iraq last year. This was with little support from the public and his backbench MP’s. 122 labour MP’s revolted over Iraq and many even resigned. However some believe that the number of backbenchers revolting against Tony Blair would have been even higher if the Government had not repeatedly told MP’s that this would not be their last chance of expressing opinion before going to war. The public were just as against war as Tony Blair’s backbenchers.
“The decision to go to war over Iraq had significant implications for Britain in terms of foreign policy. Despite the apparent internationalism of the New Labour project, Blair was prepared to act without UN approval and against the wishes of a large section of the international community” governing as new labour- policy and politics under Blair (Jim Butler) page 207
There were of course a huge amount of anti-war protests and it is thought that some members of the public no longer trust Tony Blair and the labour government Butler is correct when he says; Tony Blair’s decision had ‘significant implications’. This is reminisant to when Margaret Thatcher took Britain to war in the Falklands (1982) because she consulted no-one in her decision. Although there is one major difference, the Falklands Island War, or more importantly the victory of this war boosted Thatcher’s popularity rather than suffering a loss of popularity like Tony Blair.
Another similarity between Blair in Thatcher is there ‘special relationships’ with the USA and in particular the USA presidents. Tony Blair had his first meeting with Bill Clinton in May 1997
One thing that can not be ignored is the recent queen’s speech. This contained one very important and much debated issue that is university tuition fees.
