It is more appropriate to look at Spending as a Percentage of GDP. Create charts yourself at: http://www.ukpublicspending.co.uk/s...1mcn_F0t_UK_Public_Spending_As_Percent_Of_GDP The Thatcher miracle is clearly evident from 1979 to 1990.
No, that does not give any qualitative information about the spending. From all the data shown so far, it appears that Thatcher was (like Reagan) very good for the upper income decile and pretty bad for everyone else, with no discernible improvement to GDP or per capita GDP.
Ha, all that and then I find this: How Britain changed under Margaret Thatcher. In 15 charts http://www.theguardian.com/politics/datablog/2013/apr/08/britain-changed-margaret-thatcher-charts
U.K. debt load. By the time Thatcher came along the heavy lifting was done. <img src="http://www.economicshelp.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/national-debt-percent-1900-12.png"> And with that, have a good night, all.
Surely you jest... Thatcher's time in office was one of the highest periods of U.K GDP growth historically.
The only thing the charts in this article serve to do is to underline what an excellent job Margaret Thatcher did in office. She drove an excellent turn-around despite a severe recession world-wide in the early 1980s.
Mrs Thatcher, while far from some sort of a glorified, idealized Saint of Capitalism, was the best leader this country has had since WWII. For sure, she had more substance, attention to detail and ability than any of the PMs who followed. Specifically, she was so much more than Tony Blair could ever hope to become. May she RIP.