Mrs Thatcher attacks Wilson ‘blunders’

The blunders of Mr Wilson and Mr Healey, Chancellor of the Exchequer, meant that the United Kingdom was living beyond its means by £1,000m a month, Mrs Thatcher, the Conservative leader, told a Tory rally at Croydon last night.

She said that when Mr Wilson turned upon her and demanded to know what a Conservative government would cut she had said: “I can say at once, ‘Stop nationalizing anything more, like community land and petroleum oil’.”

A nationalized industry did not make profits; it became a loss-making concern and the taxpayers had to meet those losses.

The Government should also drop some of the universal subsidies given regardless of need.

Public spending took £56 out of every £100 of national income: “How much further does the Government intend to go?” Mrs Thatcher said the Government had to be reminded that every time it increased taxes it was really saying to the taxpayer “We, the Government, know better how to spend your money than you do” .

The government's answer to the present economic difficulties was to tax more, borrow more, and nationalize more. It had borrowed from the oil-producing countries, from the public, and from the International Monetary Fund.

It needed to be impressed on every individual that whether it was the security of a job, a pension, a welfare benefit or the provision of hospitals, more schools, or more council houses, all depended on the creation of wealth.

“If you want jobs tomorrow and if you have 1,25,000 unemployed today, you have to look after the people who can start up and make small businesses flourish, because they grow into the larger businesses and they can expand and create jobs” she said. [end p1]

(2) Croydon Advertiser, 14 November 1975

I think your MPs are wonderful—Mrs Thatcher

Croydon's four Tory MPs won high praise from their leader, Mrs Margaret Thatcher, on Monday.

She described them as “four of the most enthusiastic, capable and committed members we have on the benches at Westminster.”

She was speaking at a Conservative Party rally at the Fairfield Halls, attended by the four MPs—Mr John Moore (Central), Mr Bernard Weatherill (North East), Mr Robert Taylor (North West) and Mr William Clark (South).

Mrs Thatcher recalled the last General Election: “One joyous moment in that grim October evening was to learn that you had swept the board in Croydon.

“When doubts are expressed about our return to power—which cannot be long delayed—I point to Croydon as a shining example of what can be achieved.”

Turning to the country's problems, Mrs Thatcher said she could never remember a time when the nation was so “plagued and depressed about the future.”

The problems were not just about finance or even unemployment. They were also about attitudes.

The “way back” for Britain, she said, was a return to the traditional Conservative values of freedom of choice, employment without crippling personal taxation, home ownership and a secure financial future.

She lashed the Socialists for “assuming that someone else will make wealth for them to distribute.”

The Government seemed to have a vendetta against the small businessman.

But it was from the small businesses that bigger businesses grew, giving profits, re-investment and jobs.

“If you are to have well-being, you must first create wealth.”

Government involvement in the life of the people must stop, she said. Out of every £100 of the nation's income, the Government already spend £36.

“How much further do you want to go?” she asked.

Mrs Thatcher called for support for law and order, referring to the rebel councillors of Clay Cross, and said there was little doubt that violence and vandalism was a major social disease.

She added: “I believe time is not on our side in the battle to save our nation from further decline and decay.”