Speeches, etc.

Margaret Thatcher

Party Political Broadcast

Document type: Speeches, interviews, etc.
Venue: Unknown
Source: Thatcher Archive: BBC transcript
Editorial comments: The press release (498/77) was embargoed until broadcast at 2100 on Wednesday 4 May 1977. A separate PPB was made for broadcast in Scotland (see 4 May 1977).
Importance ranking: Major
Word count: 1422
Themes: Conservatism, Employment, Housing, Local government, Famous statements by MT

Councillor Malcolm Thornton

As I said to you last week, I'm a river pilot, and my job is to bring ships safely into port. As a politician what I want to see is a party in government over there that can steer this country back towards economic prosperity. Now the recent by-election results show quite clearly that the mood of the country is in favour of a change. Tomorrow you have a chance to vote, and what I want to see most of all is such a flood tide of public opinion that will leave the Conservative Party in no doubt whatsoever that it's they and they alone that can provide this sort of Government.

Marcus Fox M.P.

Makes pleasant reading doesn't it? Unless you're a Socialist of course, but then they haven't had much to smile about recently. What a sigh of relief went up from them as they held on to Grimsby by the skin of their teeth. The truth is that this Government is in deep trouble. They've lost by-elections not just because their own supporters stayed away in droves, but because many of them chose to vote for the Conservative alternative. Just look at the seats lost by Labour: Walsall, where the Conservative vote increased by four thousand over the previous General Election; Workington, up six thousand five hundred; Stechford, up four thousand five hundred and Ashfield up seven thousand. And even Grimsby increased by nearly seven thousand again.

In this situation the task for the Conservative Party is very clear. As Margaret Thatcher has said, it is to prepare ourselves for government. To proclaim our beliefs and to expound our policies. She describes some of her basic beliefs as she talks to Ian Lawson, from a Party that cares to a leader that cares.

Ian Lawson

One of the main problems in the country is the lack of opportunity for young people. I know a great many young people who have moved out the country or certainly, you know, given up all the hopes they had of attaining a better future for themselves and for their families, simply because what they felt was government ineptitude. [end p1]

Rt. Hon. Margaret Thatcher M.P.

There's a tendency these days to ask Government, what are you going to do for me? I think the people who are happiest are those who live with a form of government which doesn't do everything for them, which doesn't direct them as to exactly what they shall do, but which says we shall all be happiest if we can persuade the people to do best for themselves. I'm often asked, why are you a Conservative? I've come to three conclusions. First, the word ‘conserve’—it means that you try to keep everything that's best, preserve it for future generations. And then turn round and look and say what's bad? What needs improving? What have we got to do to help those people who haven't had much of a chance?

You won't find any of us preaching class struggle or things, one lot of people against another. What matters most in life isn't systems of government or economic theories, or even systems of politics. What matters most of all is the individual, how they live their lives, the decisions they make, whether they have a purpose, how they look after their families, whether they are prepared to take responsibility for themselves, whether they're prepared to give a hand to others, whether they are prepared to take a full part in the life of their community. But what matters is the individual. Of course there will always be problems, but on the whole governments are there not to rule the people but to serve them. In the countries which are broadly free enterprise countries—not the Communist countries—you have a very much higher standard of living for all of the people. When government works through people, people produce more prosperity than when governments tell people what they can do, what they can produce and what they can buy. So our system produces a better material standard of living for most of the people and also it produces a free people.

Perhaps you don't value that until you are in danger of losing it.

Now you come to me and you talk about opportunity, you can only really have opportunity if government isn't telling you every you must do, for giving you a chance to develop your own talents. And I think what you're complaining about is that you haven't got this chance or opportunity now and if you make good—and in my young days the whole story used to be ‘local boy makes good’. Now if local boy—or even local girl—makes good, too much is taken away from them that people say well is it worth it. That's the sort of thing you're after.

Ian Lawson

The rewards aren't in the country any longer. The main reason why I'm a Conservative is I come from an area where we've got Labour District Council, Labour Regional [end p2] Council, the majority of MPs in the area are Labour, and one day I was going through one of the worst parts of Glasgow and I said to myself, why is it like this? I mean council housing for instance, I think Glasgow is probably the worst throughout the whole of the United Kingdom.

Mrs. Thatcher

When I go about I always make a point some time during the day of canvassing in a council estate. And I meet all sorts of people there, and as you know it's part of our policy to say to people who live there, look if you want to buy your house we'll see that you have a chance. Well, of course, some people have been living there a long time and they say, “Well, we couldn't possibly afford it now, but we would have loved to have done it had we been younger. Because just look, if we'd been able to twenty-five years ago the house would be ours now, and we'd have done several things to it, and we'd be able to look forward to a period when we didn't pay any more rent, we only paid rates.” And they want the opportunity for their children to buy theirs. And the other thing is—this shows you really that the heart of Britain is always sound—they always say “And then we'll be able to hand on something to the children, we'll be able to do something for them” . But you see the difference in approach. Government there to dominate people—no. Government there to serve people, to help them help themselves. You then get an independent people with their own pride, with their own self-respect. Able not only to look after themselves and their families, but able to have to have a little bit over to lend a hand to the unfortunate people.

I think it's terrible if a person who wants to work can't find a job. You have no self-respect, you haven't got the respect of your family, if you somehow can't earn yourself a living and them a living too. Sometimes I've heard it said that Conservatives have been associated with unemployment. Well, that's absolutely wrong. We'd have been drummed out of office if we'd had this level of unemployment. Your whole political philosophy is that you try to give the individual a chance and then you want him to be responsible for himself and his family. But you've got to strain to get him a job, because he can't carry that out unless he's got a job. It's absolutely vital to Conservative philosophy that you try to get everyone a job, or to try to help them, or to help other people to create jobs for them. That's central to our belief. Because how can you look after a family unless you've got a job. One sure thing is that Socialism puts up taxation and Conservatives put it down. Again, that's no accident. We know that governments can only spend the peoples' money. [end p3]

Fox

Malcolm, as a leader of a large local authority, what did you find when you took over from Labour?

Thornton

We found many examples of expensive schemes which quite frankly the ratepayers couldn't afford. And we were elected to try and hold down local expenditure. Now with the best will in the world this can't be done over night because we're contracturally committed to many schemes, but what we have done is to pursue our policy of trying to hold down expenditure. Now even though we've cut many millions of pounds off our estimates, we've still been faced with this inherited effect. Labour authorities take on board schemes which they can't possibly hope to afford realistically and it's the ratepayers' money which is being used to finance these schemes. Money which they can ill afford and which they are saying loud and long they don't want to pay.

Fox

So there it is. Both nationally and locally we are ready for government. The right approach, statement of our aims, our policies for local government and we publish next week the the campaign guide. We do not know the date of the general election, but there is one thing you can do immediately. And that is by voting Conservative tomorrow. Don't waste your vote and we won't waste your money. Vote Conservative tomorrow.