This Manifesto describes our Conservative vision of Europe. It contains clear, practical policies to make that vision a reality.
Let there be no doubt.
Our present and our future lie in Europe.
We want to work with our colleagues in the Community to develop a common and co-operative approach to all those problems that we can best tackle together.
That requires a determination to fight hard for Britain's interests in Europe as well as a whole-hearted commitment to making the Community work more effectively.
That is why in Brussels we pressed for reform of the budget and of the Common Agricultural Policy and for a fairer deal for Britain.
It is why we have urged a practical, step-by-step approach to closer co-operation between the Members of the Community.
That approach is now set to turn the Common Market, about which we have spoken for so many years, into a reality.
No one has worked harder than we have to sweep away the barriers to a single market so that our businesses may flourish and our consumers have the widest possible choice. [end p1]
We want a Europe of enterprise and fair competition with the minimum of bureaucracy and regulation.
We want to see the whole of Europe benefiting from the policies practised in Britain&em;policies which have brought jobs, prosperity and choice to millions of men and women.
We stand for a free, enterprising and open Europe&em;not a Socialist Europe which would suffer from detailed controls, bureaucracy and protectionism.
A Socialist majority in the European Parliament would work in that direction&em;seeking to turn the clock back to policies associated in Britain with failure and decline.
We must elect as many Conservative Members of the European Parliament as possible to buttress the present Centre-Right majority.
The Conservative Party has been, is and will remain the Party of Europe.
We can give a lead in building a stronger European Community because we have built a stronger and more respected Britain. [end p2]
We will build a Europe committed to sound money and free enterprise.
To the encouragement of job creation.
To a better deal for consumers.
To a cleaner and safer environment.
To tougher and more effective action on crime, fraud, drug abuse and terrorism.
To the secure defences on which our freedom ultimately depends.
These are Conservative priorities for Europe in the 1990's. We believe they are the priorities of the British people too.
(2)BBC Television Archive: OUP transcriptPhilip Hayton, BBC
The Prime Minister has opened the Conservative Party's campaign for the European elections with a call for an enterprising and open Europe, free from bureaucracy and protectionism. She said suggestions that she was anti-European were absurd, but pledged that Britain would fight its corner in the Community. Mrs Thatcher dismissed suggestions that her party was divided on Europe as “slight differences of emphasis”
But for Labour, Brian Gould said the manifesto had been drafted to paper over the cracks and to conceal the growing muddle and confusion in the Conservatives attitude to Europe.
MT
What are you suggesting are the &dubellip;
John Sergeant, BBC
The Prime Minister was in combative mood and her message was simple. Europe needed Thatcherism, not Socialism. She would have no truck with meddling bureaucrats in Brussels and she was convinced her tough approach wouldn't lack popular support.
MT
Not in any way, quite the contrary. They don't like the petty bureaucracy, and they wouldn't want someone acting for them in Europe who did not stand up for Britain's interests. Believe you me, other people stand up for their national interests in a very, very vigorous way.
John Sergeant, BBC
The Tories will press for the ending of all trade barriers within the European Community. They will keep up the battle against massive food surpluses and against fraud. They will insist on a British veto on tax proposals and immigration controls. Mrs Thatcher ruled out an early decision on linking the pound to the other currencies in the European Monetary System&em;not least because of wide variations in inflation rates.
MT
But there are very great differences at the moment, and also at the moment, yes we have a problem with inflation. Inflation is a monetary phenomenon and, therefore, in order to get it down, we must remain in charge of that monetary policy. The time is not right now.
(3) ITN Archive: OUP transcriptPeter Allen
The Conservative slogan for these elections is ‘Leading Europe into the 1990s’. The problem is there's a deep division in the party over what kind of Europe that should be. Mrs Thatcher's vision is clear enough. She wants a market free of what she's described as the “creeping Socialism of the Brussels bureaucrat”. That's a theme she picked up again today.
MT
No, the people of Britain do not want petty bureaucracy. They do not want taxation rates imposed upon us without the consent and agreement of the British Parliament. That is absolutely in keeping with everything British, and that's what they want.
Peter Allen
Mr Heath has described these kind of attacks on Socialism in Europe as “absolute rubbish”, and others like Michael Heseltine also want a more positive approach to Europe but are saying so in a more restrained way. All of which has delighted the Labour Party, only six years ago committed to leaving Europe, but this morning holding its own conference to highlight Conservative divisions. So today Mrs Thatcher was under pressure, but characteristically seems to have decided that attack was the best form of defence.
MT
We have to gain our trade&em;now don't stop me, I'm in full flood [words drowned in laughter] … and you're just going to hear a part of it now.
Peter Allen
The Conservatives promised free trade for Europe, but promised also that Britain will keep its own laws, set its own taxes, and arrange it's own immigration controls. Mrs Thatcher clearly feels that's a popular mix, but she and her forty-five MEPs are fighting a defensive action. European elections are not normally the cause of great excitement in this country. In 1984, when they were last contested, there was a turnout of just thirty-two. The arguments inside the Conservative Party have at least ensured that this time there'll be plenty of publicity before the elections on June 15th. Peter Allen, ITN, Westminster.
(4) The Times, 23 May 1989:Thatcher derides Euro bureaucrats
The Prime Minister yesterday set out the Conservative pitch for the European Parliament elections by declaring that the British people did not like “petty bureaucracy” and would not want anyone acting for them in Europe who did not stand up for Britain's interests.
She brushed aside criticisms of her European stance by Mr Edward Heath and other leading Conservatives, saying that it was her Government, not his, which had brought “sanity” to EC practices.
She said: “We stand for a free, enterprising and open Europe&em;not a socialist Europe which would suffer from detailed controls, bureaucracy and protectionism.”
Mrs Thatcher also indicated more precisely than before when Britain might join the exchange rate mechanism.
Attempting to bury the suggestion that such senior ministers as Sir Geoffrey Howe, Foreign Secretary, and Mr. Nigel Lawson, Chancellor of the Exchequer, are opposed to her on the question, she said: “I don't know of anyone who seriously suggests at the moment that we should join the ERM.”
Sir Geoffrey, sitting beside her at the launch of the Conservative manifesto, said that the decision on when the time was right would be taken by the Government as a whole.
Mrs Thatcher said that that time was not now. Britain had a problem with 8 per cent inflation and was concentrating on getting that down. To do so it was essential that we remained in control of our own monetary policy.
She set further conditions. Not only would inflation in Britain have to come down but all the other EC nations would have to remove restrictions on capital movements and get rid of exchange controls as Britain had done before our participation in ERM could be considered. Then, Mrs. Thatcher said, “We shall look at it again.” She added, with a possible clue to the timetable: “We cannot foretell what will happen in 1990 and 1992”.
The Conservative manifesto published yesterday gives a new prominence to the European Parliament, acknowledging that it is “in the front line of our defences against bureaucratic meddling”. It promises that Conservatives will fight to retain zero VAT rating on food, domestic fuel and power and children's shoes and clothing.
Firm action is promised against EC fraud and the manifesto promises to break down non-tariff barriers, liberalize banking, life insurance, mortgages and other financial services, eliminate frontier delays and further liberalize air transport and bus and coach services between EC countries. In a new commitment, the manifesto says the Conservatives will seek an immediate quadrupling to £1,000 of the limit on tax paid allowances for travellers buying goods within the EC before they have to pay domestic Vat, with an eventual removal of that ceiling.
It also says the Conservatives will seek an increase to £250 in the tax paid allowance for personal travellers bringing in goods bought outside the EC.
In a series of radio and television interviews yesterday Mrs. Thatcher continued her assault on the EC Commission, saying that it was trying to take extra powers. “We have to reject that and fight Britain's corner. We are not going to give up these things,” she said.
Meanwhile, Labour issued a compendium of quotations from Mr Heath, Mr Michael Heseltine, Lord Cockfield and others designed to demonstrate that the Conservatives were deeply split. Mr Bryan Gould accused the Tories of “growing muddle and confusion”.