Employment Relations and Training Policy

Abstract

The election of a new, radical Conservative government in 1979 saw the end of the Keynesian demand-management approach of previous governments and its replacement with a ‘free-market conservatism’ emphasising financial and supply-side management (see Chapter 5). In contrast to what was felt to be the excessive interventionism of previous governments the general approach of industrial policy through 1980s was essentially negative: largely concerned with removing the barriers to the unimpeded operation of the market. By means of a range of ‘supply-side’ measures such as tax reform, privatisation, market deregulation and control of the trade unions, the aim was to establish a strong free-market framework within which British industry could operate more efficiently and effectively. Legitimation was given to these central policy shifts by the concept of the new ‘enterprise culture’. This was characterised by the virtues of individualism, independence, self-help and above all by the end of the collectivism and corporatism that was seen as a major cause of Britain’s industrial decline.