YOU may have seen members of the Conservative party sharing a lovely graphic to celebrate 50 years since Margaret Thatcher became Tory party leader.
Now, not that we would ever want to rain on anyone's parade, but this one the Jouker couldn't let go by. At least, not without once again reminding those members of her devastating impact across Scotland.
Below are just a few reasons her leadership should not be celebrated today.
1. Deindustrialisation and job losses
To summarise, Thatcher cynically and deliberately set out to favour the Big City cats and the financial sector, and began effectively decimating the industrial and manufacturing capacity of the UK.
Funnily enough, those mainly heavy industries were the key linchpins of the Scottish economy – shipbuilding, steel, coal, engineering, manufacturing of everything from cars to textiles.
Pits closed, factories shut, and unemployment soared – in some streets in Glasgow, 50% of men were out of work.
2. North Sea Oil abuse
This revolution came at a price. Social security costs soared as entire communities swapped coal for dole with the number of unemployed people reaching nearly three million before Christmas 1981.
In his budget that year, then-chancellor Geoffrey Howe introduced a new 20% tax on North Sea oil – which he estimated would bring in around £1 billion to the Treasury.
While soaring oil revenues fuelled a bonfire of UK industry, the cash kindled an explosion in the City as ministers tore up regulations and British banking came roaring into life as we see it today.
Scotland’s oil ultimately helped finance the government’s debt obligations, meaning they could avoid hiking taxes and cutting spending in many areas – so avoiding even more economic pain – while embarking on their ambitious ideological project of transforming Britain.
3. The Poll Tax (Community Charge) (1989)
Scotland was used as a testing ground for the Poll Tax, a controversial flat-rate local taxation system.
It was introduced a year earlier than in England and Wales which led to widespread protests, mass non-payment, and contributed to Thatcher's unpopularity.
4. Opposition to Scottish devolution
Thatcher was against greater self-governance for Scotland, and was likely rubbing her hands when the 1979 referendum on devolution required 40% of the total electorate to approve.
When the vote came, though a majority voted "Yes," it failed to meet the threshold.
When the referendum was lost, the Conservatives, supported by the SNP, tabled a motion of no confidence in the Labour government. The resulting election saw a victory for Thatcher and put devolution off the political agenda at Westminster for nearly two decades.
