Bitterness lingers in
region at social cost
of policies

Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough MP David Blunkett, who bitterly clashed with Mrs Thatcher when he was city council leader in the 1980s, said he “could not forgive her for what she did to my city of Sheffield”.

Barnsley Central MP Dan Jarvis said South Yorkshire had been subjected to an “ideological assault” by Mrs Thatcher’s administration, while Chesterfield MP Toby Perkins, who was schooled in Sheffield, said her legacy would be the social cost of “deliberate deindustrialisation” of the area.

Mr Blunkett did acknowledge Mrs Thatcher as a “most formidable opponent” and “undoubtedly an outstanding leader” but added that “I have to say that I cannot forgive her for what she did to my city of Sheffield, the mass redundancies, the damage to productive industry and the use of incapacity benefit as a tool to avoid internal social breakdown.”

Mr Perkins said: “The legacy for South Yorkshire and North Derbyshire is there’s no more mining and a tiny number of people working in steel works as a result of a deliberate decision to deindustrialise.

“There was a solidarity in those communities she either couldn’t understand or positively objected to and certainly felt threatened by. The social cost of deindustrialisation is the legacy we will reflect on.”

Mr Jarvis said: “People felt then as they feel now that Margaret Thatcher as Prime Minister – with parallels to today – had essentially written off parts of the country like Barnsley and South Yorkshire.

“People felt very strongly there was an ideological assault on this part of the world, people thought that in the 80s and people still think that today with the benefit of hindsight.

“Margaret Thatcher famously said there was no such thing as society – I fundamentally disagree with that. Barnsley and South Yorkshire very clearly demonstrate there is such a thing as society – the sense of pride in ourselves, in our community. We showed Margaret Thatcher she was wrong.”

Sheffield South East MP Clive Betts, who succeeded Mr Blunkett as council leader towards the end of the Thatcher premiership, said: “Margaret Thatcher brought about significant chance to British politics and British life. Overall I don’t think that change was for the better.”