Was Thatcher's 'property owning democracy' a myth?

cepheus

High house prices, which owe much to policies promoted by Margaret Thatcher’s government, pervert the promises of Thatcherism. If you work hard and are thrifty, she said, you will be rewarded. Yet people who own property can make more money from sitting on it than by doing a job, while others will never get on the property ladder however hard they strive.

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/mar/14/britain-housing-crisis-10-ways-solve-rowan-moore-general-election?CMP=share_btn_tw

Generali

Are you seriously trying to blame house prices in 2015 on a politician who lost power in 1990, stopped being an MP in 1992 and is now dead?

stator

Generali wrote: »

Are you seriously trying to blame house prices in 2015 on a politician who lost power in 1990, stopped being an MP in 1992 and is now dead?

All governments since Thatcher have followed her 'Thatcherite' housing and economic policies.

Remember all those industries that were nationalised when Labour was in power? Tony Blair was a successor to Thatcher every much as bit as Major was.

Generali

stator wrote: »

All governments since Thatcher have followed her 'Thatcherite' housing and economic policies.

Remember all those industries that were nationalised when Labour was in power? Tony Blair was a successor to Thatcher every much as bit as Major was.

Not really. You just don't understand Thatcherism.

The point of Thatcherism was that it was an attempt to overthrow Corporatism. The Blair Government in particular was a big fan of Corporatism.

Thatcher wanted to give power back to the little (wo)man and take it away from Corporations, Unions and professional bodies. The Big Bang did exactly the same thing to the City that the union laws did to the miners.

The Blair Governments wanted to cosy up to big banking. Remember the Prawn Cocktail offensive?

Cornucopia

I think Thatcher genuinely meant what she said about property-owning. She was enormously in favour of council house sales, in a way that I believe went way beyond narrow political self-interest.

There are a few home truths, though, about housing that people seem to wilfully ignore:-

1. Some people will never own their own homes, or may lose their homes at some point in their lives and never be able to replace them.

2. When there is a shortage of housing stock and/or funding, then someone is going to go without. In the 60s and 70s, there was a huge group of poor, disadvantaged pensioners who were often living in poor quality, cramped/overcrowded, rented accommodation.

3. Pensioners are now much wealthier than they were, and as a consequence of having lived their working lives, are likely to own a home if they wanted to own one. In the world of shortage, someone else is now losing out.

4. In London, fashions have changed, and Zone 2/3 is now favoured as a place to bring up children where 20-30 years ago, most people moved further out. Only so many people can live in Walthamstow village - it's simple physics.

5. Many more houses need to be built. Planning and other barriers need to be resolved in order to achieve this.

SailorSam

I grew up on a Council Estate, my Mum bought our house when i was a teenager for £7k and sold it about 12/15yrs later for £20k, and that got us out of the Council Estate inro a nicer house. Probably without Maggie my Mum would still have been paying rent for the same house many years later.
Thank you Mrs T.

chewmylegoff

stator wrote: »

All governments since Thatcher have followed her 'Thatcherite' housing and economic policies.

Remember all those industries that were nationalised when Labour was in power? Tony Blair was a successor to Thatcher every much as bit as Major was.

Even if that was accurate who is to blame? Thatcher and 'Thatcherism', or the British electorate and the governments they elected post-Thatcher?

marlot

The decline in housebuilding is probably the biggest factor...

Masomnia

cepheus wrote: »

High house prices, which owe much to policies promoted by Margaret Thatcher’s government

It's the opposite. Thatcher believed in free markets, and the housing market is about as far from that as any.

Thrugelmir

cepheus wrote: »

High house prices, which owe much to policies promoted by Margaret Thatcher’s government,

Not Brown & Balls light touch regulation and the triumphant abolishment of boom and bust. Which resulted in the banks lending out far more than they should have done.

zagubov

It seemed to many people that Mrs T wanted to promote home ownership as its a form of debt which makes workers less likely to strike or join labour organisations, and become easier to be pushed around by bosses.

I approve of home-ownership, and have a mortgage for my house which is worth a lot more than we paid for it. Can't help notice that the decline in organised labour has coincided with the increase in home-ownership.

When I was a kid, debt was seen as a thing of shame, and people waited till they had substantial deposits (often 40%) before they'd try to buy. That had to be got rid of, and it was.