Phil Jones, a member of staff at LiverpoolSU from 2002 to 2014 said the following when asked about the student union in the 1980s

“LSU first came to my attention in the 1980's - I went there quite regularly to watch many, many bands. All that was required for non-students was that you would sign in and then once in you got all the perks of a student in the 1980's. Very cheap beer, obnoxious door staff, rooms that hadn’t been decorated in decades, disgusting toilets and a unique smell. I loved it.”

The 1980s began with student unions facing a very difficult climate with the country being ran by a conservative government who cut student union funding and grants for students every single year between 1979 and 1987. This was always going to be a decade where hard work mattered.

The students needed their unions to at least try and disrupt the attack on students during this decade and by the end of the decade they had been successful. It was not easy but in a decade where success didn’t seem likely, student unions came out stronger and won. LiverpoolSU was arguably the hardest hit of all the student unions nationwide during the war for student rights and funding. In 1981 the NUS newspaper reported that 10,000 students including students in Liverpool were hit by escalating rent costs and poor housing. ;

Strikes occurred against these measures but even with the help of union action not much changed. However the persistence showed even when it seemed like unions and students were fighting a losing battle. This is a mentality that proved worthwhile in the end. 
Alongside rent strikes it was reported by the NUS news in October 81 that Liverpool student’s grant cheques had not been paid due to strikes in education in the local area. This of course impacted students who attended Liverpool polytechnic and also students who were from the Liverpool area. It was a huge crisis and students from Merseyside nationwide were suffering but of course a massive number of local students were affected. It was advised that students who at this point had no money should go to their students unions as they could help. LiverpoolSU who had worked with local banks in regards to advertising made sure that students could go to these banks and gain short term loans to help until the grants were cleared. This is a really great example of how student unions help and when the crisis was ended by the December of 1981, severe hardship had been avoided. However 1981 ended with the simple news for students that 3 years of cuts were expected and high hall costs were also going to be a factor. This was a battle the students and student unions could not escape.

1982 ignited fury from the whole city as courses were being cut by the polytechnic. The student union was quoted in this Liveprool echo article discussing how, without art programmes offered by the art college, there would be no Beatles and how John Lennon had been given the chance to study there. In 1983 the student union in Liverpool and students everywhere received really concerning news. This news was when in the June, Sir Keith Joseph was put back into power of education in the country. This led to more cuts being expected and 1983 was declared as the worst year in history for graduates. Student union support meant more now than ever and support offered by LiverpoolSU to graduates was of the upmost importance.

The year ended with Merseyside student unions forcing through a strike by colleges and universities went on strike against cuts for 24 hours. The scale of these issues was hammered home when a planned small meeting against the cuts a Liverpool polytechnic turned into a mass meeting with numbers far greater than expected. The student population of Liverpool polytechnic had had enough. The next two years were significant in defining the students union and the university we have today. 1984 started with national protests that continued for the next few years. In the march of 84 we had then Prime Minister Margret thatcher being booed by students for her government’s unprovoked attack on the youth of the country.

National protests for a £30 a week learning grant occurred in the march and in the following month of April thousands of Merseyside students were set to face life without grants and without support all while they attempted to be successful at university. These were incredibly challenging times for students. The lack of money was just not for students but also for LiverpoolSU and the polytechnic itself. 
The city council decided the budgets for the polytechnic and at the end of 1984 the student union faced bankruptcy. The city council simply did not allocate a budget for a student’s union. The union had running costs of £93,000 for a year but for 1985 had building repair work for a cost of £63,000 that was essential and needed to happen. It meant that the SU looked as though it was on its way out, it had no money and it was not expected to receive anymore. The NUS paper in October 85 suggested that Liverpool polytechnic and its student union were in crisis. The poly could not function and neither could the student unions. The students union did not receive any of the block grant that it had been promised and the city council were to blame for poor planning. The closure of the union and the polytechnic or, at the bare minimum, cuts seemed inevitable. 
The man in charge of the polytechnic Gerald Bulmer believed that cuts would make the polytechnic stronger but he was very mistaken. While it rallied the student union and the students into action it was action that did not need to occur.

Alongside the crisis, the students union stood tall and continued to do what it could against the pending closure. The bar at IM marsh continued to put on great social nights for students and try and increase revenue to help out. It was reported in the local press that the polytechnic aswell as the students union had gone bust and the expected closure date was at the end of 1985, however it never closed. The reason why it never closed was not just because of local outcry but mostly down to the hard work of the students union and the staff at the polytechnic. In a book called the city that dared to fight, the author Peter Taffe stated that: due to the fight of the students, they achieved what most student unions could only have dreamed of securing.

By the beginning of 1986 they had secured funding for 3 full time union officials, increased funding, acquired time off lessons for SU activities, and a free nursery. 
LiverpoolSU very quickly due to protests and action became the leading polytechnic student union in the country. This was the turning point for the union. By not simply accepting their fate they turned a corner and set the union and the colleges on the right track. In 1986 protests still continued nationally and at a local level. They were, according to Gareth Pye who worked with the SU, “interesting times”. He and the union “wanted to get students involved with their education” and all the knocks and actions had actually produced a student base who cared greatly about their own and others student education. 
There were consistent battles with the council about funding and students who were starting courses still had a looming fear that they may not be able to finish their course. The relationship between the polytechnic and the student union at this time was still problematic and perhaps did not help the need for funding as they never worked together on issues that both could have benefited from. Occupations of buildings to stop the closure of courses still happened but with every step it seemed the student union was getting closer to being able to get students what they needed. The NUS newspaper reported in December 86 that 100,000 students had protested about loans. This was an issue that would not go away.

Nevertheless, in 1987 strides were made. The NUS at the time suggested that all student unions should maybe sit back and wait for a less hostile grant but the idea of doing nothing would be wrong due to the battles of the last few years regarding student loans. The government knew that student unions would not give up and at long last in 1987 the conservative government admitted they had been wrong. A House of Commons committee into student grants declared for “an urgent need for an increase in real terms for student awards”.

So at long last student strife had started to be corrected. Better late than never I guess? LiverpoolSU’s first black president Phillip Gayle, who is now a TV personality said when talking about Liverpool: “dole queues, unemployment and deprivation, these are what we expected as new visitors to Liverpool and at a first glance this may seem the case but this is not the case”. He then explains how the student union helps student lives and offers a guide to Liverpool. He promises after your time at Liverpool you will say “yes, I’ve made the right choice”. 1988 came around and the education reform put into place meant at least some success for student unions. Liverpool life down to the work of the student union started to look more positive than it had done in the past. The president of the union for 87/88 said the “Haigh is one of the best venues in the city” and he is confident “you will enjoy your time at Liverpool poly”. The quest for charity status started to gain momentum due to the results of an 1988 NUS conference at Blackpool which our then president Sean Curran attended and voted towards a move for charity status, which we now of have.

By the summer of 88 the daily post reported on a story of how international students were being successful at Liverpool Polytechnic due to work with international students and the SU in helping them settle in. So after all the trouble of the 1980s the polytechnic and its union were really heading in the right direction. Stuart Melhuish, the president in 1989 said “it is the best city and the best polytechnic in the land”. This declaration would have almost seemed impossible only 3 years before and yet with the work of the SU it was now a very accurate statement.