The Young Conservative Movement lays claim to the support and the enthusiasm of Britain's new generation. If it is to succeed it must convince young people not only of the rightness of specific policies and particular programmes, but also of the essential truth of our Conservative philosophy.
I want today to place our policies in this larger context. We are not merely a pragmatic party, responding to situations as they arise. We have a deeply held conviction of the kind of society we want to see—a real vision of a community in which each individual can fulfil his greatest potential.
The new direction upon which Britain is now set is therefore no accidental re-routing forced upon us by our economic difficulties. It has not come about by some conversion to a strange and untried economic theory. Instead we are set upon the course of building the kind of society in which our people can flourish and their talents be freed. The society in which Conservatives have always believed and which alone will ensure the opportunities for which so many young people yearn.
At a time of recession, when resources are scarce, achievement is not so easy. Yet even so, this Government can already point to major successes. Don't let us be afraid to shout them abroad. We have re-established security as our first priority. It is a measure of the task we inherited that even this basic duty of government had to be reasserted! Yet in less than two years Britain's determination to play her full part in the defence of freedom is a certainty upon which all other nations, friend or foe, can rely. The confidence of our allies has been regained and with it has come a new strength in our international dealings.
I make no apology for starting with defence. Whatever we may hope for our people or plan for the future—all depends on the preservation of our freedom. A political party which is not prepared to pay the price of freedom has no right to demand the support of the people. No philosophy—no matter how high-minded—which does not [end p1] acknowledge this as the state's first duty has any place in the real world. It is not just a question of having armed forces and paying for defence. It is even more vital to believe in it! Confidence comes when people see you have put your heart as well as your words into it. No-one now doubts Britain's determination nor her willingness to pay the price.
Yet confidence in security is not only a matter of defence. It has much wider implications. It concerns the rule of law at home. A nation must guarantee its people's freedom within its bounds just as it protects them from attacks from outside. What a difference we see today in the morale and the recruitment of the police. It is not just that this Government has paid them properly. Even more it is that they know we are on their side, that we support a society in which the rule of law is upheld and where order protects the weak. There is no policeman on the beat today who is not absolutely assured that his job is properly recognised and fully supported. It is from this basis of real confidence that the fight against crime and disorder can become more and more effective.
Security of life and limb is the first, but not the only duty of the state. This growing confidence at home and abroad can only be sustained if people can rely upon the nation's economic base. If we constantly cheat on the value of our money, go back on our word by paying our debts in debased coinage, then there can be no confidence inside or outside the nation.
Yet that is precisely what inflation means. As our money declines in purchasing power, so we each betray the confidence placed in us by those we have promised to pay. The stability of commerce and the security of investment are destroyed. That is why the conquest of inflation has to be our first economic priority. Men must have confidence in the common currency of everyday life. Honest money is a mark of the kind of society we Conservatives seek. So the steady reduction in the rate of inflation is essential, not just to good housekeeping, but for the deepest philosophical reasons. How can we have a confident society in which all can trust if the Bank of England's promise to pay is entirely conditional and only partially fulfilled?
These fundamental issues are in clear contention between Conservation and Marxists. But what of the self-styled Social Democrats? Don't let us forget that those whom the Press now call Moderates are actually the direct descendants of the last Labour Government. Beginning of section checked against BBC Radio News Report 1300 and 1800 14 February 1980:
They're descendants of that very Labour Government whose attachment to nationalisation, state control, a great extension of trade union power, the destruction of the grammar schools and the provision of blanket subsidies did so much to undermine Britain's enterprise and Britain's prosperity. The recipe offered by the new Limehouse Left, who, when in power, always surrendered to extremist pressure is the same old mixture, which failed before. These people aren't fighters, they are trimmers. It is not so immediate a poison as the [end p2] Benn formula, but deadly nonetheless. Slow-motion Socialism is Socialism all the same and however genteel the guise, it would damage Britain dangerously today, just as it has in the past, just as it did when one of their number, Shirley Williams stood on the Grunwick picket line. End of section checked against BBC Radio News Report 1300 and 1800 14 February 1981.
By contrast, in these first two years this Government has turned Britain on a new course. Our prime purpose is to create the conditions in which our people can themselves make the most of the widest range of opportunities. Such a society cannot exist without a basic confidence. Defence, Law and Order, honest money—these are the essentials. We have recognised that and we have put them first.
That, however, is not enough. A society well-defended, properly policed, and economically sound, is nothing if it is not comprised of free men. It is still a central part of our belief that we must set the people free. It is this belief which has animated so much of our legislation since May 1979. That's why, for example, we started so quickly on the sale of Council houses. We do believe that the property-owning democracy must be extended far beyond its present limits. And last year, home ownership in Great Britain went up to 55 per cent for the first time. [end p3]
The perpetuation of large Council-owned fiefdoms means that millions of families are not master in their own home; have no chance to acquire a capital asset for themselves or their children; and that millions are unable to move, unless they can find a suitable exchange—and that happens all too rarely.
This is discrimination at its worst. To keep this division in Britain would be to perpetuate a system which makes whole areas dependent upon the whims of officials and politicians. The sale of Council houses has struck one of the biggest blows for freedom for many, many years. Yet it must not end there. The extension of pension and assurance schemes, the encouragement of small businesses, and the help for those who want to start on their own: these are important ways of extending freedom and independence to more and more of the people of Britain.
Even in a recession we ought to be able to do more. [Beginning of section checked against BBC Radio News Report 1800 14 February 1981:] I am determined to see that we give every encouragement and help so that people can use their redundancy payments to set themselves up in their own enterprise. That will mean that out of the evil of unemployment at least some good, some new spirit of independence, may come. End of section checked against BBC Radio News Report 1800 14 February 1981.
This difficult period which every nation faces makes it all too easy for the immediate present concerns of the economy and of employment to override all other considerations. Young Conservatives in particular are faced with the special task of putting our Conservative philosophy in a society where all too many young people are out of work or fearful for their jobs.
Their sad and dispiriting situation would only be prolonged if the Government were to give up the fight against inflation and be tempted by siren voices to follow a course which would surely lead to hyper-inflation.
Meanwhile, we can and must help people through the recession. Young Conservatives should never be afraid to praise the achievements of the Youth Opportunities Programme. Next year, £320 million will be spent to provide 440,000 training opportunities. These give work experience, which according to the most recent survey, means that nearly 70%; of those who had been involved were now in full-time jobs or courses of education.
The only permanent answer is a sound economy based upon honest money and successful endeavour. That must remain the Government's primary aim. Without it, we cannot meet the real aspirations of the young people of Britain. [end p4]
Gradually, all over the country, there are signs of the new life that this change of policy is bringing. There is a new spirit abroad—a new confidence and a new willingness to rely upon oneself and not upon others. Our job must be to nurture and feed this new life. It will not be easy; for some people fear freedom and independence. That fear has been engendered by the years of state socialism.
Freedom is heady stuff and there are those who shy away from it and run for the seemingly safe haven of state provision, and government subsidy. The help which society gives to the needy can so easily sap their initiative; instead of aiding people in time of difficulty so that they can deal more effectively with life, we so often trap them into a continuing dependence, taking away all their ability to stand on their own feet.
In a Conservative society we must strive to use the welfare state to help people to independence not condemn them to dependence. Our caring community must continue to help the needy and those for whom only the state can provide.
But it can only do so if it is freed from the incubus of dependence which this fear of freedom creates. If we try to care for everyone then the needy will be the first to suffer. If instead we help men and women to regain their freedom, we shall be freed to reach out more generously to those whom society alone can help.
So it is that we are set on a new direction. We shall create the security and confidence without which the nation cannot succeed. We shall produce the conditions which will encourage independence and extend freedom. We shall foster enterprise and reward talent and hard work. Ours will not be the sterile search for equality upon which the so-called social-democrats are set. Nor will we parade the tired marxist statism of the official Labour Party. Instead we shall set our course for the free society where men can make the most of opportunity and where the wealth which enterprise creates gives substance and meaning to our compassion. This is the Conservative dream. We are now set fair to make it a reality.