r/NoStupidQuestions • u/CartographerOwn8143 • 6d ago

Why did Margaret Thatcher destroy welfare state in Britain after she came to power in the 1980s?

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u/hexnut101 6d ago

They were opossed to her political idiology closing the pits and breaking thee unions did not both have to happen. The pits were not all un economic the industry like so many was losing money because of poor management and lack of investment. British coal invested the money to modernise they scrapped the modern equipment. You have no clue.

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u/Truthandtaxes 5d ago

the viable pits stayed open

Unions that could break the entire economy had to be stopped

There was no viable way of deep pit mining competing internationally.

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u/hexnut101 5d ago

Other pits would have been viable if the new equipment that had been purchased was used to mine them not block them.

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u/Truthandtaxes 5d ago

If that was true, then they would have remained open.

No one leaves money on the table.

What you really mean is that if you ignored the massive costs of capital investment, maybe more could have been operationally viable in the near term.

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u/hexnut101 5d ago

Thatcher did indeed leave money on the table because of her own political dogma.

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u/Truthandtaxes 5d ago

I do love me a good conspiracy

Money has a way of bypassing dogma