Britain ‘done with Socialism’

The present Government was now beginning to realise that the people of Britain had done with Socialism, said Mrs. Thatcher in her speech at the Hudson Sports Centre.

This was hardly surprising, she said, since in the last four years the Socialists had lowered the standard of living, increased taxation enormously, put up unemployment, cut the number of jobs, damaged the wealth-creating capacity, given little help to agriculture and done nothing to encourage the small business man.

“What they have done with the education system grieves me very greatly indeed,” said Mrs. Thatcher. “They have been more interested in imposing one kind of school instead of seeing that all children get a good education and do of their best, which is something which all children deserve.”

On the nation's finances, she said: “You won't become prosperous by setting targets, but by having policies for wealth creation—policies which encourage people to give of their best, policies which make it worthwhile to work and build up businesses.”

Differences

One of the great differences between the two parties was that the Conservatives believed in creating wealth before distributing it, while the Socialists believed that someone else was creating it for them to distribute.

“This means that those who are now receiving it from redistribution are doing as well as those who take all the effort and risk in creating it,” she said.

Wealth creation would come only when taxation policies were right, she argued, and the Conservatives believed that this could be achieved by lowering income and capital taxes.

Another of the main differences was that the Conservatives believed in the right of the individual and respected freedom of choice, whereas the Socialists sought to impose more and more controls.

Displeased

“Companies have been taken over or blacklisted, not because they have broken the law, but because they have displeased the government of the day,” she said. “The fact that they may be producing goods cheaper than their rivals counts for nothing.”

The loss of choice in education was something which concerned her deeply.

“Where a school is doing well, leave it alone so that it can carry on doing well,” she said—and it was clear that she had Wisbech Grammar School in mind.

“So often the small organisation, the small hospital or the small school suits people better.”

She went on to warn that if Labour was returned again at the next election, it would mean an enormous programme of nationalisation and extreme left-wing policies.

Finally, Mrs. Thatcher said the Conservatives had always believed in allocating adequate resources for defence.

“Those who are not prepared to defend their freedom might find the time comes when they no longer have it,” she declared.

It was equally important that resources for the preservation of law and order at home should be given a higher priority than the Socialists were prepared to give it.

(2) Wisbech Standard, 17 March 1978

Mrs. Thatcher gives popular answers to protesters

Mrs. Margaret Thatcher, leader of the Conservative Party, is in favour of the retention of small hospitals.

And she also believes that if a school is doing well it should remain open.

These two points of local significance were stressed by Mrs Thatcher during a speech in Wisbech on Friday.

Her speech, which in the main dealt with national issues, was made at the Hudson Centre to almost 600 Party workers and businessmen—plus a few members of the public who had crept in at the back of the hall—shortly after she had been lobbied by pupils of Wisbech Grammar School and by the Wisbech Hospitals Action Group.

The Hospital protesters, many waving placards, were trying to gain further support for their fight to retain satisfactory hospital services in the town.

The Grammar School pupils were making their views felt concerning the threat of closure hanging over their school following the publication of a consultation document containing a number of proposals for the reorganisation of secondary education in the Wisbech area.

As the Opposition leader walked into the Hudson Centre, one of the pupils, sixth former Louis Backer, told her the school was in danger of closing because of Labour policy, and expressed the hope that when she came into office she would save the school.

Mrs Thatcher said that if the Conservatives were returned quickly she thought the school could be saved. “I am in favour of small grammar schools,” she said.

In her speech, which received a standing ovation, Mrs Thatcher said she felt the majority of people in Britain were Conservative at heart. Yet they did not vote Conservative … yet.

She accused the Socialists of producing a misleading manifesto at the last general election in February, 1974. Had their manifesto been candid, she claimed, they would have written that under Labour taxation and unemployment would rise, while the standard of living would go down; capital taxes would damage wealth creation, and a Labour Government would have little sympathy with the small businessman or the farmer.

That, she said, represented Labour's record over the past four years, and, referring to the Socialist doctrine of promoting the comprehensive system, she added: “What they have done to the education system grieves me very greatly indeed.”

Mrs Thatcher then turned to what she felt were the main national issues: The creation of wealth, individual freedom and defence.

She said that if Britain wanted to become more prosperous, there had to be policies of wealth creation. People should be encouraged to do their best and it should be made worthwhile to work and build up a business.

The difference between the Conservatives and Labour on this issue, she said, was that Labour assumed that someone else had created wealth and they distributed it; whereas the Tories created it before they distributed it.

Wealth would only be created with the right tax policies, and the Conservatives' tax policies would be conducive to the creation of wealth, with the lowering of income tax and capital taxes.

She explained that earlier in the day she had been to view the flood damage in the town and had seen a demonstration in connection with the hospitals. And she said it was people like the flood victims and those fighting for the Wisbech hospitals who needed the proceeds of wealth creation.

Looking ahead to Mr Denis Healey 's forthcoming budget—his 13th, although she did not expect to be any unluckier than the previous 12—she said the Labour Party had come to the conclusion that the Tory tax policies were the correct ones.

She expected tax cuts in the budget, but said the Chancellor would have to cut taxation by £5,000 million to be able to revert to the tax levels that applied when the Conservatives left office.

And the Tories did not have North Sea oil, she said. However, she felt that Mr Healey would not cut taxes with the help of the oil revenue as he was using it to counter losses in the steel industry.

“If we are going to create losses bigger that the wealth we are creating, then we shall all be poorer,” she said.

Taking up her second main point, she said a Conservative Government respected the right of the individual. Governments were made for people, she said, not people for Governments.

Under Labour, freedom was steadily being diminished. More and more companies were being taken into public ownership. And some were being blacklisted, not because they had broken the law, but because they had displeased the Government.

Also under Labour there was less choice in education, something, she said, that was of current concern to many people of Wisbech.

And the threat to Wisbech Grammar School was obviously in her mind when she said: “Where a school is doing well, leave it alone, to get on doing well.”

The Conservative Party, which she felt could be called the Liberty Party, had always believed in defending the country. In fact defence of the realm was a government's prime job.

“Those who are not prepared to defend freedom will find that the time comes when they no longer have it to defend,” she said.

She pledged that the Conservatives would allocate sufficient resources for the defence of Britain, and she spoke of the importance of upholding the rule of law and order.

At the end of her speech Mrs Thatcher answered a number of questions. One was from Coun. Feodor Rikovsky, Wisbech's Deputy Mayor elect, who, referring to the fight to retain Wisbech's hospital services, asked if the local authority and the people of the area would receive more co-operation from the Secretary of State for Health under a Conservative regime than they had from the present Labour incumbent.

“Yes,” she replied. Biggest was not necessarily best. There were some excellent small hospitals, and she felt many people would rather have a small hospital close at hand rather than a larger one further away.

“I am very much in favour of small hospitals,” she declared, “and I was even before I came to Wisbech.”