I presume that the reason it didn't is that it was obviously not economic to do so. As per my earlier post, why didn't Tony Blair re-open the mines?
That would be a point if people were claiming Blair's policies were in anyway a model, but not many do.
However, the point isn't so much the economic viability of the mines or british industry...well it is..sort of. Nobody can deny, except the most blinkered how much of a hold on progress the unions had in those industries and the power they exherted. In fact, the resistence of the unions to collective bargaining, ultimately led to their demise.
The point is that post war Britain nationalised many industries and supplies as that was economically for the best at the time. T McGibney's statement that you can't blame Thatcher for that is true, but at the same time you can't blame a region or town for that either. That's how it was set up, that was where you worked, where your dad worked.
These weren't well paid employees earning 80K with overtime, they were still poor and that workplace was it.
Successive governments were happy with that as it meant at least they were earning, so the regions had little other development and were left to themselves.
So your life was get through the school you had to and get a job at the plant/pit. If you were lucky, you might have had a choice of a couple of factories, many weren't that lucky.
And then that's gone. No assistance, no help with anything. You got a grant to "retrain" but there was no other work or employer to retrain for. No bedding in period, nothing. And when it quickly went from 1 in 9 children living in poverty to 1 in 3 and when areas hit the largest levels of poverty and lack of resources seen, nothing else happened. The reason people harbour a lot of resentment is more from that side, that they were cast away, ignored and left to rot while everything moved to services and the financial services and more specifically the South East of England.
Then she sold their houses of the unemployed.
Inward investment never happened. The tax breaks to the rich didn't spark the spirit of invesment, it sparked the spirit of decadance. Ramping up North Sea Oil production helped paper over a lot of cracks, slow downs in Germany and France brought the UK closer to them in output rather than the Uk rising to meet them.
It is the sheer callousness of her vision that still holds in many people's memories. The rug was pulled from under them and they were left to rot.
So yes, the idea may have had an element of logic behind it, but to implement it immediately and without any consideration for the community it would impact? To then see that impact and still do nothing? Hmmmm. It divided Britain and that divide remains.
As to my classy comment T McGibney, I don't claim to be classy, so it stays. I think in balance, her record of compassion and humanity, or rather utter lack of, shows a much greater lack of class and I'm not adverse to stooping and showing disrespect where no respect is deserved.