Tory leader pledges more spending on defence
TAX CUTS FIRST, SAYS THATCHER
Cuts in personal taxation, but more spending on defence, were the only promises Mrs. Thatcher, Leader of the Conservative Party, was prepared to make after her visit to North Cornwall yesterday.
Relaxed and confident after a day of meeting farmers, factory workers and shoppers, during a tour of the critical marginal constituency held by Mr. John Pardoe, Mrs. Thatcher told a party rally at Wadebridge that the next election would be critical to the future of Britain.
The country was now classed with the less prosperous nations of Europe and when it came to matters of State our views hardly received attention. What she had found most concerned the people of North Cornwall was the issue of law and order.
“We used to be a country foremost in the world for observing the law and building up the rule of law,” Mrs. Thatcher said. But that was not always so today and Conservatives tended to do something about it. The party believed in liberty, but it was not possible to have liberty without the rule of law properly administered.
“The liberty we know is precious,” she said. “A nation which values its way of life will soon lose its way unless it is prepared to defend it vigorously.”
Bringing back the importance of the rights of the individual, restoring law and order, cuts in taxation, and extra expenditure on defence were essential if Britain were to climb back to its position of pre-eminence among the European nations.
The Conservative Party's first priority if it won the election would be to cut the level of personal taxation. “You are entitled to keep more of what you earn, and more of what you save,” she said.
Earlier, Mrs. Thatcher lost a potential supporter because of an 18-inch Cornish pasty. It had been specially prepared for her by Mrs. Elsie Hammond, 68, mother of the licensee of the Wilsey Down Hotel, next to Hanworthy Cattle Market.
“Someone said she would be visiting us,” Mrs. Hammond said. “She didn't arrive, so I shall be voting for Mr. Pardoe.”
Mr. Martin Perry, Conservative agent for North Cornwall, said that he had not heard about any visit to the hotel, but added that he might drop in there himself to taste the pasty.