The Conservatives and Training Policy 1979–1992: From a Tripartite to a Neoliberal Regime

In: Political studies: the journal of the Political Studies Association of the United Kingdom, Band 41, Heft 2, S. 214-235

Abstract

Despite the growth in government spending upon training programmes under the Conservatives, this policy remains understudied in the literature on Thatcherism. To explain this policy the author identifies four, New Right-based, components of the Conservatives' training objectives: the weakening of trade unions and the apprenticeship system; linking the receipt of unemployment benefits with participation in training or work activity; advantaging employer preferences in the implementation of training programmes; minimising government intervention and acting only in response to unemployment. The author argues that these aims have been developed in a way consistent with neoliberal principles. The Conservatives have effected a shift from a national tripartite regime to a local, employer-dominated neoliberal training regime.