labour whilst government tax revenues increased because Thatcher’s fiscal policy reduced tax evasion greatly and encouraged business investment and therefore more corporate tax returns.
Moreover, the economic revolution Margaret Thatcher brought about was also vital for the UK economy in the long-term because it helped create the supply-side improvements that caused the golden age of non-inflationary constant expansion between 1997 and 2007, which was fuelled by the rapid development of the service industry in the UK, most notably the financial sector. This period of boom was testament to Thatcher’s policies because whilst she may have increased inequality and unemployment in the short-run, the true effects of her policies were only felt over a decade later through the vision she demonstrated in causing the improvements in productivity and the vast profits created from the financial sector. Indeed, the complexity of Thatcher’s economic policy is what seems to divide opinion. However, it was simply the work of someone who strived for long-term prosperity that stretched beyond her generation, for the children and grandchildren of those miners made unemployed, through a short-term trade off of economic gloom in the form of unemployment and painful structural change. It is this lack of short-termism and a vision for the nation long after her time that makes Margaret Thatcher a hero and distinguishes her from the leaders of today’s world. Thatcher also displayed her heroic leadership of Britain through her dealing with international relations. This aspect of Thatcher’s legacy shows the widespread effects of her terms in office that, I believe, sets her apart as a hero. Indeed through her invaluable involvement in the thawing out of the Cold War, Thatcher reshaped the international landscape as we know it. This is because she helped end the hostile divide between the West and the USSR, which seemed to be heading towards nuclear war if the ‘iron curtain’ was not brought down, as can be seen by the Cuban Missile Crisis. Through Thatcher’s deep friendship with and mutual admiration of President Ronald Reagan, she was able to identify and support the man who would be instrumental in bringing about the collapse of the Soviet Union- Mikhail Gorbachev. International Relations
This three-way relationship that Thatcher constructed was monumental in shaping the events that would follow because it allowed the USA to re-open communications with Russia through Gorbachev and ultimately led to de- Stalinisation and the collapse of the Berlin Wall. In addition, Thatcher’s refusal to join the European Monetary Union and her maintenance of the pound as an independent British currency was perhaps the decision in which she demonstrated the most foresight as a leader. Thatcher can be argued to have saved Britain from being involved in the collapse of the Euro and the national bankruptcy dangers that face many nations in the EU today. Furthermore, Thatcher’s nationalistic heroism is
“I like Mr. Gorbachev. We can do business together.”
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