Why did Margaret thatcher close the coal mines?

Answer 1

because they were losing the equivalent (in today's prices) of 1.4 BILLION pound per year. Coal mining union leaders knew this didn't add up to profits since the 1960's. Thatcher balanced budgets and reduced the economic decline of the UK in the 80's. She reduced the highest tax rate of 83% (ridiculous rate, no one should have to pay more than half their money to the government IMO) to 40%, which even liberals agree is fairer than 83%! Granted, not all of her policies were good (Falklands war was stupid, milk cuts to school budgets were horrible) but she did get the economy moving again and put the UK house in order. I'm not trying to justify all of her actions, but she did do some good to the country, and whether you agree with every thing she did or not, SHE HAD BALLS!

Answer 2

Because it was a state-owned steel plant operated by the then nationalised British Steel, and was running at a loss. Thatcher's policy for getting Britain out of the economic sinkhole it had been in throghout the '70s was to close down state-owned industry and infrastructure, and replace it either with privately owned concerns who would take a hard line with the trade unions and not balk at only employing non-unionised labour, or to get rid of Britain's indigenous industrial and manufacturing capacity altogether and import cheaper goods and materials from abroad.

She reckoned that this would save the country money, but it completely ignored the hardship it created for those who were left unemployed, and also ignored other possible alternatives to this policy, such as investing in more modern technology that would not have involved mass unemployment, looking for new markets for Britain's exports, and exploring means whereby Britain could be more self-reliant upon it's own means of production. The Consett closure in 1980 sparked a massive strike, the like of which was not seen until the far larger miner's strike of 1984 / 85.