return of the Conservative government, however this time it was under the power of Margaret Thatcher.Previous to Margaret Thatcher, the government had always seen their main focus to be the achievement of full employment, a solution which in times of 1979 could prove somewhat impossible. The new Conservative government saw their future, as one of creating more jobs and encouraging greater success in competitive product markets, this was in an attempt to achieve full employment. The main priority of the new Conservative government was to reduce inflation. The one associated problem with this, was that in order to reduce inflation, the government would have to allow unemployment to occur. The government used monetary policy over demand management, and concentrated on the control of the rate of interest in an attempt to stop low levels of unemployment causing inflation. The government decided to use collective bargaining as a means of setting rates of pay for the first time, the government no longer required Trade Unionists as negotiators of pay, because private negotiating bodies were now used. It was now assumed that in the present economic climate, in accordance with interest rates and government objectives that the price which was set would be reasonable, and if not then the government assumed that the employers knew better, this being one indication of Mrs Thatchers non-tolerance towards Trade Unions, also shown by Mrs Thatcher passing control of pay structures to private bodies and employers. This attitude is very different to the present day New Labour government, who sees government interaction in the wage structure as being very important. For example, the introduction of the National Minimum Wage.In the past, previous governments have always placed great emphasis upon collectivism, yet, Margaret Thatchers government saw the future as being more individual and made an attempt at reducing/abolishing collectivist thinking...
