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Conservatism vs. Labour Essay

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Conservatism vs. Labour Conservatives: Conservative policy: There are two different types of Conservative. There is the Traditional Conservative and the Neo-Liberal Conservative (Thatcherite). Conservatives generally, are pragmatic. This basically means that each political situation should be judged on its own merits. This also means that the idea of a fixed political response or formula is rejected. However, it is interesting to note that many Thatcherites often adopted fixed principles for political action. There is generally a strong emphasis on order. Conservatives believe that the first concern of any government is to maintain order and security. There is also emphasis on…show more content…
Other key players were Keith Joseph and Norman Tebbitt (aka Lord Tebbitt). A number of large industries were privatised and trade unions were knocked down from their powerful positions. In the eyes of a Conservative, trade unions are disincentives for enterprise as they place too many constraints upon an employer, thereby damaging the economy. They also reduced a wide range of welfare benefits, and direct taxation on incomes. Instead, VAT was raised form 8% to 17.5%. This effectively meant that people were no longer taxed as much on their earnings, but were taxed more on their spending. This meant that people had a choice; they did not need to spend, they could save instead. Many people thought that this favoured the middle-classes as they could afford to pay the increase on spending, whereas poorer people would not be able to pay this huge increase in VAT and would therefore not be able to buy things. Also, direct taxation on profits was reduced, thereby creating another incentive for the economy to perform well. As one can see; the Conservatives of that era stuck to their ideals and did not directly meddle with the economy. Instead, they altered the way taxation worked, and the power of trade unions to indirectly alter the economy. The New Right is also intensely nationalistic and takes a very firm line on law, order, and moral issues. To conclude, New
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