Mr. Chairman, Secretary of State, My Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen.
First may I thank you for that wonderfully warm welcome. It was absolutely terrific to receive it. [End of section checked against STV Archive tape.] [end p1]
Almost three weeks ago I came to speak in Perth just after the election was announced. There, I set out the choice before the British people: — socialism or freedom — economic crisis or economic prosperity — a Britain defenceless and weak or a Britain defended and strong. [Beginning of section checked against STV Archive tape]
Tonight in Edinburgh I say
The choice before the country could not be sharper. [end p2]
No wonder Labour leaders do anything and everything to district the eyes of voters away from their full blooded socialism. First, they tried to hide their socialism. What floated to the surface was Labour's iceberg Manifesto.
Then they tried to re-package socialism. They wrapped it in cellophane and roses. Sweet-smelling for a day, but oh so transparent.
And this week, they are resorting to personal abuse. [end p3]
This is an excellent sign. Personal abuse … (Laughter and applause.)
Personal abuse is no substitute for policy. It signals panic. (Applause.) In any case, let me assure you it will not affect me in the slightest. (Applause.)
As that great American Harry Truman observed:
“If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.”
Well, Mr. Chairman, after eight years over the hot stove I think I can say, with all due modesty, that the heat is entirely tolerable. (Weak laughter and applause.) [end p4]
So lay on, Macduff. You'll find it won't be Maggie Thatcher who cries “Hold! Enough!”
We have the quiet confidence. We have the policies. And we have the record of achievement. (Applause.) [End of section checked against STV Archive tape.] [end p5]
TURNING BRITAIN ROUND
Eight years ago, in 1979, in the winter of discontent, our Party's message to the nation was “Stop the rot!”
Four years later, in 1983, we'd stopped it. For the first time in a generation, the watching world had begun to take us seriously as real competitors. We were beginning to teach the world a thing or two.
How to release the nationalised industries from a life sentence of state direction. [end p6] How to halt twenty years of ever-increasing inflation. How to free workers from the rule of politically-motivated shop stewards.
Today, in 1987, we can count the dividends. Six years of faster growth in national output than any of our continental rivals. Faster than France. Faster than Germany.
Six years of faster growth in shop-floor productivity than any of our major international rivals. Faster than the Americans. Faster even than the Japanese. [end p7]
Millions of our fellow-citizens with a stake of their own in British industry, for the first time in [Beginning of section checked against STV Archive tape] their lives, a share in success achieved British Government, under Conservative Government.
And for the British business more profitable than at any time in the past twenty years. That means investment to create tomorrow's jobs.
As this week's CBI report showed, orders are flowing into Britain's factories—from home and abroad. And last week's balance of payments figures showed we are more than paying our way in the world.
And figures out today—I must bring you bang up to date—show that last month Britain's official … [End of section checked against STV Archive tape] [end p8]
And take home pay is higher than ever. Britain is on the move.
Mr. Chairman, these are the achievements of the people who invest, the people who manage and the men and women on the shop-floor— [Beginning of section checked against STV Archive tape]all working together for the prosperity of their families, their company and their country. Our contribution as a Government was to release the energy and enterprise of the nation's workforce from the fitter to the banker, the workforce producing the goods, at the right time, at the right place and at the right price. [end p9]
But be warned. Another Government could reverse success and turn it into economic disaster. That is the danger.
On every previous occasion, just when we were beginning to catch up on the competition, a Labour Government took office and threw away everything we had gained. Financial prudence went out of the window. The pound went through the floor. And Prices went through the roof. The watching world laid bets against us. They foresaw that Labour would be obliged to answer to the beck and call of extremist policies and trade union leaders. [end p10]
And today, behind a mask of moderation, the Labour Party is in the grip of the hard left. And they won't let go. And within days of the election of any Labour Government, the unions would be back in the driver's seat and their leaders would once again be the nation's masters. We must not let it happen. (Applause.) [End of section checked against STV Archive tape.] [end p11]
TRADE UNIONS
Mr. Chairman, what a huge step backwards that would be! In the last eight years our Conservative trade union reforms have given democracy to trade union members for the first time.
They have helped management and union members alike to resist violent picketing and intimidation.
They have protected the public and innocent by-standers from the unrestrained exercise of union power.
And they have secured the lowest levels of strike action for fifty years—a record of industrial peace which is the foundation of our present prosperity. [end p12]
So what does Labour's manifesto have to say about the trade unions? ‘We will ensure’, it declares, ‘That the law guarantees the essential legal freedom of workers and their unions to organise effective industrial action’. Well, what are these ‘essential’ freedoms?
What about the freedom to go to work without being spat at, stoned and victimised? Today's Labour Party doesn't say anything about that.
In fact, they'd restore mass picketing. [Beginning of section checked against STV Archive tape] So freedom from victimisation doesn't seem to be an essential freedom to them. [end p13]
What about the freedom to run your business without being blacked and closed down by secondary picketing. [End of section checked against STV Archive tape.] Not to worry! You're not essential to Labour. The Neil KinnockLabour leader himself assures us that secondary picketing will be restored. It would then be lawful for pickets to travel from different towns or regions to blockade and shut-down a company with which they have no direct quarrel.
What about the freedom not to belong to a trade union if you don't want to? You must be joking! In fact, Labour would restore all the old instruments of unrestrained trade union power. [end p14]
Back would come the enforced closed-shop. Shop-stewards would once again have the power to decide if a man should be allowed to work or not.
Back would come secondary picketing. Unions would decide which factories could work normally and which would be closed down whether they were involved in the strike or not.
And when workers and managers tried to keep their factories going—Back would come the violence. For bring back secondary picketing and you bring back violence at the factory gates. [end p15]
Labour is pledged to repeal our trade union reforms. Secret union ballots would no longer have legal force. Ordinary trade union members would no longer be able to control their union bosses.
Labour would also prevent employers and managers from taking unions to court for [Beginning of section checked against STV Archive tape] striking without a secret ballot, a right they won under Conservative Governments.
Mr. Chairman, think of the damage that Labour's policy would do. Think of the damage to industry. [end p16]
The truth is Tory reforms have formed a lame duck economy into a bulldog economy, with better growth (applause), better productivity, more exports, higher earnings. Restore union power, as Labour wants, and production lines would grind to a halt, orders would be lost, investment plans would be cancelled. Foreigners could no longer rely on prompt delivery of our goods. We would cease to pay our way in the world.
Our present prosperity would vanish like a dream. The nightmare would have returned.
Mr. Chairman, Don't let Labour ruin our new found prosperity. (Applause.) ( [Note by MT] Insert.) [Tape halts then resumes] It was we who united management and shop floor in shareownership, shareowners all. We who have replaced conflict with cooperation, and with it an increasingly prosperous industry. Mr. Chairman, let's keep it that way. [end p17]
LABOUR'S THREATS TO SCOTLAND
And so I hope, Mr. Chairman, everyone in Scotland will read and remember the Labour Party Manifesto. Rarely have we seen from a political Party so many pledges that would destroy directly and indirectly—destroy—tens of thousands of jobs—and, in particular, tens of thousands of Scottish jobs.
There is the pledge to close Dounreay—the third largest employer in the Highlands, employing over 20 per cent of Caithness's workforce. It is a firm pledge to destroy jobs—qualified by an ill-defined hope that other work will be found for the displaced workers. [End of section checked against STV Archive tape] [end p18]
There is the pledge to close Chapelcross in Dumfriesshire immediately, destroying a further 750 jobs.
There is the pledge to reverse our decision on Sizewell which would lead to major redundancies for Weirs and Babcock—and to the loss of still more jobs.
And when Labour runs out of pledges that would destroy jobs directly, it embarks thoughtlessly upon policies that threaten jobs indirectly by damaging the economy.
First, Labour's hostility to nuclear power would destroy thousands of Scottish jobs, civil and military. [end p19]
Their policy of phasing out civil nuclear power in Scotland would put [Beginning of section checked against STV Archive tape] 25 to 30 per cent on electricity tariffs. That would lose us the Finnish Paper Mill in Irvine and devastate Ravenscraig's profitablity and competitiveness.
Labour's unilateralist defence policy of which I'll have something to say later would severely damage the economies of Argyll, Dumbartonshire and Fife by closing Holy Loch and Faslane and reversing the proposed £200 million investment in Rosyth to service Trident submarines. Several thousand jobs would be put at risk by that. [end p20]
And then Labour's hostility to our overseas investments—built up, I may say, to give an income when North Sea Oil can no longer do so—Labour's hostility to those overseas investments would clobber the growing financial services industry in Scotland of which we should all be proud—not to mention stopping the pension funds from earning the best return for the pensioner. Remember, of the ten largest investment trusts in Britain, five are managed in Scotland.
Labour proposes to force pension funds and investment trusts to sell their foreign holdings and invest the proceeds at the whim of Labour politicians and union bosses. [end p21]
They seem to have forgotten—as the business section of the Glasgow Herald cannily pointed out you see I'm still keeping a watch on Scottish newspapers—that “investment only makes sense when it also makes money” . Indeed it must make money if it is to provide the money for occupational pensions.
Mr. Chairman, politicians should no more play fast and loose with the savings of people than with the defence of the country.
Finally, there is Labour's hostility to our reforms of local government finances.
We pledged ourselves to abolish domestic rates and we have done so. [Pauses.] (Applause.) [end p22]
The people of Scotland are all too well aware of the iniquities of our rating system. And I am proud that we will first be introducing the community charge here in Scotland.
It will be a relief to many who have suffered from the heavy burden of rates. And it will particularly help groups like the widowed and the elderly.
Speaking here in lothian region, I don't need to tell you what an improvement our legislation will bring about for the business ratepayer. It protects him by ensuring that rates do not rise faster than inflation. Labour policies will remove that protection and would expose him to penal rates again. [end p23]
And we have to remember that Labour wants capital value rating—as Nicholas Ridley forced them to admit last week. Rates then would be even more volatile and unfair — especially to pensioners—more volatile and unfair than under the present system.
Our Scottish legislation for community charge has now been passed by Parliament and after the General Election. It will be brought into operation. (Applause.) [End of section checked against STV Archive tape.]
How does Labour propose to offset the job losses that its policies would bring about? It promises to create more jobs by spending more, taxing more and borrowing more. Have they forgotten what happened when they tried it last time? [end p24]
First, borrowing rose. Then interest rates rose. Then prices rose. Then production fell. And finally unemployment rose again—higher than before they jumped on the spending elevator. [Beginning of section checked against STV Archive tape.]
Governments which try to spend their way into prosperity find all too soon that they have spent their way into recession. (Applause.) [End of section checked against STV Archive tape.] [end p25]
Labour's policies for reducing unemployment would increase unemployment—and start the inflationary spiral all over again. They might not mean that to happen. But it would happen all the same. The sacrifices of the last eight years would all have been in vain.
Mr. Chairman, this Government is tackling unemployment not by creating inflation—but by creating jobs. One million new jobs have been created since the last election—more than in all the rest of the European Community put together. [end p26]
We now have fewer long-term unemployed than the European average.
We are on an upward path. [Beginning of section checked against STV Archive tape]
Now that the British economy is expanding, that new industries are springing up, that new jobs are being created, this is no time to abandon the policies that have got Britain moving and industry competitive once again. [end p27]
A Moral Approach
It is right that the voter should be reminded when he or she goes to polling station on 11 June that the question which he should ask is “What is best for the country?” , not just “what is best for me?” . It is right that politicians of all parties, should be asked about jobs, materialism and personal responsibility. [End of section checked against STV Archive tape.] These are moral questions and they present moral issues.
But I would say one thing with great emphasis. Denunciations do no good. There are real choices to be made and Government has not shrunk from making them. [end p28]
We believe that the way forward—the moral way forward—is to release the energies of the people, not to cramp and constrict them. That way real jobs are created—jobs which are needed by the community. [end p29]
Someone who, by hard work, does his best to look after the needs of his family; — who tries to purchase [Beginning of section checked against STV Archive tape:]some measure of personal independence by buying his house or taking shares in his firm; — who pays his tax honestly and, with whatever is left over, does something for his less fortunate neighbour,
That person is laying the foundations not only of his own, but of his country's prosperity. He is not, in my view, a materialist. He is the salt of the earth. (Hear hear and applause.) [End of section checked against STV Archive tape.]
I will go further: someone who by exceptional talent and enterprise builds up a business is also serving his country. [end p30] All the social progress which we achieved in the last hundred years has been based on the creation and saving of wealth. A nation which consumes everyday, everything which it produced everyday will have no thought for the future.
But Labour wants to punish the people who, by building up businesses and providing jobs for others, have also done well for themselves.
Only this week, in the journal Marxism today, Labour's all-purpose campaign manager, Mr. Bryan Gould asserts that high earners should be taxed very heavily not in order to raise revenue, but to reduce their incomes in the interest of equality. [end p31] [Beginning of section checked against BBC Radio News Report 2400 2 June 1987:] No matter how hard someone might have worked, no matter how great his achievements, no matter how many jobs he created, the Labour Party would insist on levelling him down. [End of section checked against BBC Radio News Report 2400 2 June 1987.]
That is what I call “the arrogance of power” .
It's also the politics of envy and decline. It's what Britain has been suffering from far too long.
We want a system of rewards not punishment. That's how to make the country bubble with activity.
It is also the way to a more decent life for all our people. [end p32]
Isn't it moral that people should want to improve the standard of living for their family by their own efforts?
Isn't it moral that families should work for the means to look after their old folk?
Isn't it moral that people should save in order to be responsible for themselves in later life?
Isn't it moral that people should be able to contribute to charities and good causes in which they believe? [end p33] Did you know that under a Conservative Government charitable giving has more than doubled.
To most people, all this is obvious. It is only a matter of political debate because Socialists think they know how to run your life better than you do, because at the very heart of Socialism, is the instinct to order other people around. We Conservatives believe in power to the people. We believe in responsibility for the people. We believe that this is a more moral, as well as a more efficient philosophy. Because we know that without freedom of choice there can be no real morality. [end p34]
[Additional material impossible to place in speech text. Probably delivered towards the end of the speech.] [Speech excerpt from BBC Radio News Report 2400 2 June 1987]MT
Few things anger me more than the assumption of the Labour Party that the National Health Service belongs to them. The National Health Service belongs to all the citizens of this country, we are its guardians on their behalf, and we've discharged that duty honestly and well over the past eight years. …
[Excerpt from STV Archive tape. MT holding up a pile of photocopied front pages from national newspapers during the Winter of Discontent]MT
“Labour Target for Today—sick children” . The Mail, of the 2nd of February. From the 20th February 1979: “48 hour strike in children's ward” . February 2nd 1979 “Hospital Chaos Spreads” . And the next one. I will not go on too long— “Cancer Ward …”
[STV Archive tape ends.]