Thats right lottieandmia...it was all Thatchers fault that Manufacturing fell from around 29% of the UK economy in the early 1970's and around 22% when she came in - and nothing to do with this shower.
When Labour & UK Trade Unions last ‘shared’ power and didn’t have the same priorities = Thatcher.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_of_Discontent
“The Winter of Discontent refers to the winter of 1978–79 in the United Kingdom, during which there were widespread strikes by public sector trade unions demanding larger pay rises, following the ongoing pay caps of the Labour Party government led by James Callaghan against Trades Union Congress opposition to control inflation, during the coldest winter for 16 years.”
“The strikes were a result of the Labour government's attempt to control inflation by a forced departure from their social contract with the unions by imposing rules on the public sector that pay rises be kept below 5%, to control inflation in itself and as an example to the private sector.”
When UK Trade Unions dictated to businesses and German & Japanese workers didn’t = mass producing British car companies decimated.
news.bbc.co.uk/local/liverpool/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_8401000/8401200.stm
“British Leyland's Speke factory symbolised all that was wrong with UK car manufacturing in the dark days of the 1970s, a million miles away from the high performing plants of today at Ellesmere Port and Halewood.”
“In 1978 British Leyland's Speke Number Two plant was under threat of closure, afflicted by a series of crippling strikes, low sales of the TR7 it manufactured, and a history of poor industrial relations coupled with inefficiencies.”
“In 1970 British Leyland, who had taken over Triumph, spent £10.5 million building Speke Number Two plant, it was one of the most modern and best equipped plants in Europe designed to build 100,000 vehicles a year all under one roof.”
“When BBC Nationwide visited in February 1978 the plant only had a few months of life left.”