Speeches, etc.

Margaret Thatcher

Speech to Edgbaston Conservatives

Document type: Speeches, interviews, etc.
Venue: Mayfair Suite, Bullring, Birmingham
Source: Birmingham Evening Mail, 1 November 1975
Editorial comments: 1900.
Importance ranking: Minor
Word count: 167

Encourage small firms urges Mrs. Thatcher

A Four-Point plan to beat inflation and put Britain back on the road to prosperity was outlined by the Tory Party leader Mrs. Margaret Thatcher in Birmingham.

Mrs. Thatcher, speaking at the annual dinner of the Edgbaston Conservative Association, was given an enthusiastic welcome when she told them it was as important to win local government elections as the next General Election.

The immediate problem she said, was to beat inflation which meant restoring the confidence of industry, and encouraging small businesses.

It must be made worthwhile for people to work hard. It was wrong to have a tax system which discouraged hard work, she added.

The third measure of Mrs. Thatcher's plan was to recognise the role of profit in the country's economy. British Leyland was only in difficulties because they had made too small a profit.

Mrs. Thatcher's final point was that Britain must encourage savings which would provide much needed investment for industry.