UK’s crisis has similarities to that of 1980s but our ‘two chancellors’ plan only to muddle through
For good or ill, the modern British economy was forged in the 1980s. The deregulated labour market, the dominance of the City, the north-south divide, the privatised public utilities, high levels of personal debt, the chronic trade deficit and the key role played by the housing market are all legacies of the decade when Margaret Thatcher was prime minister.
It was perhaps appropriate, then, that Jeremy Hunt paid homage to the 80s in his autumn statement with frequent name checks of Nigel Lawson, Thatcher’s chancellor for six years after 1983.
