Speeches, etc.

Margaret Thatcher

Speech to Cornish Conservatives

Document type: Speeches, interviews, etc.
Venue: The Classic Cinema, St Austell, Cornwall
Source: Thatcher Archive: speaking text
Editorial comments: The press release (179/76) was embargoed until 1445. The press release omits MT’s opening remarks in praise of local Conservatives. There are also several drafting changes of no political substance. After the speech MT was presented with a basket of Cornish produce. "To roars of laughter Mrs Thatcher replied: "I wonder if I dare say that these are for my larder" (Western Morning News, 23 February 1976).
Importance ranking: Major
Word count: 2182
Themes: Agriculture, Conservatism, Employment, Industry, General Elections, Monetary policy, Privatized & state industries, Taxation, Trade, European Union (general), Foreign policy (Western Europe - non-EU), Housing, Labour Party & socialism, Social security & welfare, Trade unions
Notes by MT

Leslie Cox—Ch.

John Nott St. Ives.

?David Rudd Falmouth & Camborne.

Robert Hicks Bodmin.

Gerry Neale North Cornwall

Cand. Brian Williamson.)

Recent events in Parliament have demonstrated very clearly that on formal votes, such as the Dock Labour Bill, the Government has a safe enough majority. Both moderates and Left-wingers toe the Party line when the Whips are cracking!

Yet the Government has to woo these two factions.

It comes forward with pronouncements of calculated moderation. At the same time, it produces legislation of an extreme Socialist kind. [end p1]

Sometimes this legislation has been in favour of one section of the community at the expense of the majority. ([Note by MT] Dock Labour Bill.)

Most often it has extended the control of the State over an unwilling people; trampling on the rights of individuals, not least at the work-place; cutting away at individual freedom and choice in the pursuit of an unattainable equality; stifling by controls and taxation enterprise in business; burdening the real producers of wealth with an over-weighty bureaucracy. ([Notes by MT] Nat.—measure after another. form-fillers.) [end p2]

This is Socialism; and it is Socialism which is on trial.

It is Socialist Ministers who stand in the dock.

We shall win the next General Election whenever it comes because the country will find them guilty.

Role of Party Workers

One role you can play is to ensure that no one forgets their follies and their failures. [end p3]

You must help us to remind people of this Government's record. The present crisis is one of their own making.

You will remember that in October 1974 it was Mr Wilson 's claim that unemployment was under control.

Yet it is he and his Government who are responsible for those extra hundreds of thousands drawing the dole today.

You will remember that after six months of Socialist Government Mr Healey claimed that inflation was coming down. 8.4%;, he said. [end p4]

Yet a year later it was three times as high and the pound in your pocket was shrinking at a record rate.

You will remember that Mr Healey, in his first Budget, said that his Government was going to borrow less money. Yet this year alone he is borrowing the staggering sum of twelve thousand million pounds—a massive debt which one day will have to be repaid. ([Note by MT] Debt Mountain. The trouble about going into such heavy debt is the difficulty of getting out of it.)

What they said was one thing. What they did was another. You will remember. Dont Let Others Forget! [end p5]

But we must not win just by default, through the failures of Socialism.

We must, and shall, win on the merits of our Conservative philosophy. Ours is the philosophy on which the resurgence of Britain can be founded.

Ours is the radical philosophy of freedom; ours is the practical policy of liberating the energies and skills of our people. ([Note by MT] Inventions to create wealth. Builds up.)

Ours is the policy which produces the resources to pay for the care of the needy. [end p6]

It has a new, yet old, appeal. It should have a universal appeal.

It contains the spirit of adventure and opportunity which has an appeal, above all, for the young.

It brings a message of comfort for the sick and the elderly, because it demands care for people—as people.

It is attractive to all those who believe that they have more right to their pay-packet than the Government. [end p7]

It has a message for Trade Unionists, because only in a free society can real Trade Unions exist and fully represent the interests of their members.

In particular, our Conservative approach has an appeal for those in business who want to get the Government off their backs. ([Note by MT] Little businesses as well.)

The biggest charge against this Government is the damage it has done to prosperous enterprises, upon which our future depends. [end p8]

Inflation and taxation together have cut off the money needed for investment.

Taxation and inflation have made it very much harder to start up new businesses. The rewards are so small that the risks are not worth taking.

When a person has spent a lifetime building up a business he naturally wants to hand it on to the next generation.

Socialist taxation has made this virtually impossible. [end p9] (Local issues)

Farming and fishing, mining the famous China Clay resources of Cornwall, tourism—the traditional industries of this part of the country—all are hit by excessive taxation and inflation.

I recognise the alarming unemployment problem which Cornwall currently faces with one in every eight of the working population out of a job.

We have to restore confidence to the many small businesses on which the West Country depends. [end p10]

We must sustain and encourage your indigenous industries.

Fishing

In the case of fishing, I know that there is a need for effective measures to protect your mackerel stocks.

The problems with Iceland have contributed to the new pressures on our home stocks of fish.

Iceland has taken the law into her own hands, by arbitrarily extending her own fishing limits to 200 miles. [end p11]

Unilateral action such as this must be replaced by International agreement.

There is real urgency because stocks are diminishing at a dangerous rate.

In the EEC the Government has dragged its feet over renegotiating the Common Fisheries Policy. This has become largely ineffective because it is already operating in wholly new circumstances.

Britain has the longest coastline and the largest fleet in the EEC. She has by far the largest interest of all the Member States and must therefore secure adequate rights for herself. [end p12]

This week the Commission proposed exclusive national 12 mile limits, and a Community-wide zone beyond this up to 200 miles.

Apart from the fact that the 12 mile limit is inadequate, many difficult questions have still to be solved.

On what basis will member countries be permitted to fish within the 12 to 200 mile zone?

A quota system is proposed, but as you all know, quotas are difficult and perhaps impossible to police. [end p13]

To protect the livelihood of our fisherman, we would far prefer to have wider limits from our shore reserved for the use of British vessels alone.

Only then will we be able to husband our own resources, and thus bring back security to this industry.

Farming

Farming is another vital industry. Farmers' attitudes and practice contain so much that is best in our Conservative philosophy. [end p14]

Nowhere is this truer than among the small farmers of the West Country.

Fierce individualism.

Strong self-reliance.

Knowledge and skills built up through the practice of a life-time.

These are found in abundance here across the Tamar—which frontier I crossed this morning.

Conserving what time and experience have proved to be best. But always adapting to new circumstances and ploughing back this year's profits for next year's returns.

Passing on to the next generation the harvest of today's planting. [end p15]

We have the same approach—share the same beliefs—so it is not surprising that farmers look to Conservatives to support them and ensure that British agriculture flourishes.

Despite the aspirations of their White Paper “Food from our own Resources” this Government has done precious little for agricultural expansion.

On the contrary, the Government has done so much and threatened so much to frustrate the chances of expansion.

As a result many sectors of British agriculture have shrunk or declined over the past year. [end p16]

TAXATION

Investment is the key to expansion in any industry.

For farmers, and for most small businesses, the greatest part of the money needed comes from personal effort or family savings.

Any taxation which strikes at personal capital must therefore have an adverse effect.

In a recent study the Managing Director of the Agricultural Mortgage Corporation has shown that when capital taxes are levied the cash has to be found from capital assets. The demands are too great to be met out of income. [end p17]

In simple terms, this means that to pay for Capital Gains Tax, Capital Transfer Tax or the threatened Wealth Tax, most farmers would have to sell off part of their farms—the very asset on which their family future depends.

British farming owes some of its efficiency to its relatively large-sized holdings on the one hand, and on the other to its very high output per acre on small family farms.

The effect of these taxes is to break up these units and thus destroy the basis on which expansion should take place. [end p18]

The Left Wing attitude to this is illuminating.

One of Labour's policy groups under Mr Wedgwood Benn 's chairmanship has just proposed that farmers should give up land to the State instead of paying taxes.

So once again the threat of nationalisation hangs over every farmer in the country, whether tenant or owner-occupier.

The dreadful possibility of becoming a tenant of the State—with still more visits from inspectors and planners and other busy bodies. [end p19]

Nor can we ignore Mr. Healey's contribution to the Group's report. What he wrote in an Appendix is particularly significant.

He estimates that 350,000 acres a year might be nationalised under such a scheme.

This means that one third of a million acres are expected to be sold by farmers each year to meet Socialist taxes.

Mr Healey looks for up to £160 million a year to be taken out of farming in Capital Transfer Tax and Wealth Tax. [end p20]

He really lets the cat out of the bag when he points to the alternative ways in which the money might be found.

“Much depends” he writes “on whether farmers meet the burden (of taxes) by selling land, by reducing investment or reducing consumption” .

This is what Socialist concern for British farmers really means.

Socialist agricultural policy, according to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, is built on the alternatives of sell to the state, cut back investment, or cut your standard of living. [end p21]

Some recipe for growing more food!

It is not only by Socialist taxes that farming is being clobbered.

The Community Land Act will effectively put a blight on thousands of acres of good farming land.

Then there is the threat to abolish tied cottages, not because to do so will produce more food, but in response to a piece of out-of-date Socialist dogma.

This will affect you in the West Country as much as anywhere. [end p22]

You could tell Mr Fred Peart what he already knows perfectly well: that stockmen would not stay on a farm without a decent house. Stockmen must be close to the animals for which they are responsible.

With these taxes, with this legislation, it is difficult to believe that the Socialist Government is genuinely interested in the well-being of our agriculture, or that it means what it says in the White Paper. [end p23] (Conservative Farming Policy)

We believe that we must make the best use of our greatest national resource.

It is in the interests of both farmers and consumers to provide more for the national larder from home-grown supplies.

We must, and can, reduce our imports of those foodstuffs that we can grow ourselves—if our farmers are only given the chance. [end p24]

This means that there must be prices that will encourage the extra effort, and reward those who want to work even longer hours.

It means prices that will give farmers a reasonable standard of living.

It means a continuation of agricultural support in a way that ensures stability—and therefore confidence.

The future of British farming is now inextricably tied up with our membership of the European Community. [end p25]

British farmers are as efficient as any in Europe—and better than most.

They can make a living within the Common Agricultural Policy as it stands, given parity of treatment.

But nobody believes the CAP is ideal, and we must seek to modify it to suit our needs and to meet changing circumstances. But that change must be gradual. [end p26]

Sustained expansion of British agriculture is our aim. I recognise that this depends on long-term assurances for the future.

Such assurances are easy to give, more difficult to fulfil.

But I hope that what I have said will help to restore confidence—and not just to farmers. [end p27]

It is rash for any Opposition to make promises. But I will pledge you these:—

We will repeal the Community Land Act.

We will draw the teeth of the Capital Transfer Tax, and find ways of helping small family businesses.

These promises will delight all those who are concerned about the consequences of the present Government's actions.

They are the down-payment on our plan to stop the slide to Socialism. [end p28]

They are proof, if proof is needed, of our intention to put the future of this country in the hands of those who can best build it.

Our future and our freedom is threatened, not safe-guarded, by the overmighty bureaucracy of the Socialist State.

Our future and our freedom must be entrusted to the people.