Can Liz Truss Be the Next Margaret Thatcher?

The favorite to become the next prime minister has already drawn the ire of unions because of her labor market reform proposals.

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Boris Johnson stepped down as leader of the Conservative Party a little more than three weeks ago, and since then, the Tories have been going through a frantic process of choosing their next leader, a process that is now in its final stage. The choice is now between Rishi Sunak, the former chancellor, and Liz Truss, who has served in various cabinet positions and is currently the foreign secretary. Whoever is chosen will become prime minister by default, as the Conservatives have a majority in the House of Commons, and they will have little more than two years to turn things around before an election that must take place no later than January 2025. Truss is a huge favorite to win, and one of her first challenges will be dealing with labor unions, as the U.K. now faces the threat of a general strike.

The United Kingdom is, like most countries in the West, struggling with high levels of inflation. Its 9.4 percent inflation rate is comparable to the United States’, but the country’s higher rate of unionization means that tackling inflation is substantially more difficult. Rail workers have gone on rolling strikes to protest a below-inflation pay rise, which has left as few as one in five trains running some days—a big problem in a country where commuting to work by public transport is four times as common as it is in the U.S.

As paralyzing as this is, it pales in comparison to the upcoming disaster of a National Health Service strike. The nurses’ union has recently announced it will vote on whether to go on strike, and the strike would, if approved, mean disaster for the U.K.’s universal health care system, as the vast majority of nurses in the U.K. are unionized.

And this, in turn, pales in comparison to the disaster that would be a general strike, a proposal that has been raised by several union bosses and supported by left-wing politicians, should Truss become prime minister and proceed with her plans for labor market reforms, which the unions describe as “Victorian.”

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  1. Avatar photo
    Ben Connelly

    Can Truss be the next Thatcher? One can only hope!

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    Rajeev

    I never understood the traditional conservative affinity toward Margaret Thatcher's union-crushing techniques. It's one thing to advocate for personal responsibility but unions provide an important function to give bargaining power to individuals that otherwise wouldn't have it. Margaret Thatcher married a wealthy businessman (Denis Thatcher) who was notoriously anti-union and surrounded herself with privileged individuals.

    I have some issues with how some unions operate but a lot of it stems from the hostility that parties like the Republican Party operate. They don't just want to enact reasonable reforms, they want to crush the unions. This was readily apparent between 2006 and 2016 where every time they weakened a union they felt the need to spike the ball. Then Donald Trump emerged and distinguished himself from all the other primary Republican candidates by appealing to unions.

    When the author says the U.K. needs another Thatcher movement he shouldn't overlook the true damage she caused along with any positives. A lot of good people lost their jobs in the manufacturing sectors. Combine that with so many other failed policies that caused social tensions.

    I personally don't see any reason why traditional conservatives have to have such a negative view of unions. It's not intellectually inconsistent to recognize the value of unions while simultaneously promoting individualism. But I think it does provide one factor in a long list of factors as to why the American Republican party has become the party of cruelty that it has. I think British conservatives should look toward someone like David Cameron instead of Margaret Thatcher.

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    Andy Napoli

    As a Yank, I thank God that we don’t have anywhere near that level of unionization in our service sectors.

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    Jack

    “Second, the minimum notice period before a strike would be raised from two to four weeks, allowing more time for employers, employees, and consumers to prepare for a strike, reducing the disruptiveness caused by a sudden strike in vital national infrastructure services.”
    I’m confused. I thought the whole point of a strike was to be disruptive.

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      Pat @ Tavi Hall

      We just spent a week in the UK and even traveled from London to Bath on a strike day. In theory our travel by bus took about twice as long by train, but it went off without a hitch. I did find it strange that they announced it in advance and although they could have struck busses did not. Oddly, we had a much better cultural moment on the bus as the driver was more chatty than in the train system.

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    2. Seth

      Hence why these changes would undermine the power of a strike, right?

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        Jack

        Yeah, but why would the strikers go along with measures designed to reduce their power?

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        1. Seth

          I presume they would not, and would oppose Truss's PM bid, since the restrictions are her proposal.

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    Richard Maxton

    I won't offer an opinion on the politics side of this, as I'm just not informed enough. But only needing 40% approval to strike? That's crazy.

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  6. Bdecicco2001

    The Tories *caused* these problems, and want to cause more. They can not fix things.

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  7. R. James

    Lol, no. This lady is for turning, just look at her Brexit position.

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  8. Pzimm7778

    No.

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  9. AS Upstate

    This was a very well-written article, and I love the TD is covering UK politics. Though I think you leave out some important context (I say this as an American who is married to a Brit and lives in the US - so I am definitely not an expert!).

    First, I can't comment on the wisdom of the 40% strike threshold, my understanding is that the recent rail strikes were wildly popular among the members - upwards of 90%. The strikes were annoying, but short, and meant to send a message, not cripple the economy like the mining strikes in the 1970s. I believe that Scotland has managed to strike a deal with at least some of the rail workers for a very modest concession.

    Second, I found your idea of increasing immigration to be laughable at best, and totally dishonest at worst. Since the absurd run up to Brexit, the Tory government has been implicitly and explicitly demonizing immigrants of all kinds. People act like Boris Johnson was some kind of harmless clown, but is incessant lies about the impact of immigrants on the UK economy was very damaging, and will tie the Tories hands in dealing with these labor issues - particularly given their ties to the execrable UKIP. You can't tell the country that immigrants are destroying the English (especially English) way of life, then just snap your fingers and bring them in as scabs. C'mon.

    Third, I'm not sure you can find two institutions more beloved by Brits than the NHS and their trains system! Maybe the military or the Queen? This is not like the US - these institutions are highly regarded across party lines. I'm not sure how Truss's proposals are going to play politically - particularly in all of those northern constituency that Boris flipped in the last election. Basically, it stinks to be President or PM during a time of high inflation - I'm not sure Truss has many options.

    Fourth and final note - if Sunak wins, these policies are a total non-starter. Can you imagine the optics of him leading a union busting effort after his family's recent tax-avoidance scandal? Yikes!

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    Paul Britton

    Is "bring in the nurses from India and Nigeria" really a practical idea? Enticing immigrants to come to your country takes time. And is it really right to siphon off health-care workers from poorer parts of the world?

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      Rajeev

      Both India and Nigeria already have huge communities in the UK. Skilled worker visas are fairly common from those two countries in particular.

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      Andy Napoli

      I doubt British conservatives would go for this solution (although it definitely makes sense on economic grounds). My Yankee understanding of Brexit was that Tories were losing their minds over Polish plumbers and Greek bricklayers migrating at will into the UK on EU passports and “displacing” jobs from local Brits. If Tories lost their minds over Polish plumbers, what are they gonna think about a proposal to bring in Ghanaian and Filipina nurses into the NHS permanently?

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        John Gustavsson @Nationstatist

        No, you're misunderstanding the Brexit sentiment.

        No-one really opposed immigration from English-speaking people from the commonwealth.

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      2. Kay Bee

        Except nobody can get staff now. Hospitality, building contractors, farmers, health and social care are struggling in that regard, because the people trained and willing to do those jobs went home.

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