Godwin's Law strikes again!

British industry was in a state of decline, partly as a result of restrictive practices which made it inefficient, partly as a result of mismanagement and poor investment, and partly as a result of overseas competition. Would the IMF or the EEC would have allowed the subsidies to the mining, steel and other uneconomic industries to continue? Could those industries have survived without being subsidised? Would the effect on those areas which were entirely dependent on those industries have been any different?

I don't know - we can only speculate. But the idea that the era before Thatcher was one of unity and prosperity which she came along and smashed clearly doesn't bear examination.