Thatcher did lasting damage to local manufacturing says BCC

The business group paid tribute to the iron lady as the Prime Minister who always put Britain first. However, Lady Thatcher also dealt a death blow to local industry with her unforgiving economic policy, said Steve Brittan, Birmingham Chamber of Commerce Group president. He said: "It could be considered that the West Midlands was hit particularly hard with the collapse of the manufacturing industry, which was not being helped by three economic Thatcher policies. "High interest rates, the increase in VAT and loss of tax incentives were the most prominent policies to affect West Midland manufacturing." Brittan went on to praise Thatcher, who died yesterday, for her tough stance over the Falklands. Her legacy will also include curbing the power of the trade unions, he said. But for many locals the lasting sentiment of Thatcherism would be one of industrial decline, Brittan concluded. "So many people who remember the Thatcher era in the West Midlands would feel that her economic policies did not stimulate industrial growth. Some also regarded it as a time when those policies suffocated business in areas where manufacturing was the main employer." What's Margaret Thatcher's legacy for UK manufacturing? Email your views to mgosney@findlay.co.uk