Speeches, etc.

Margaret Thatcher

Speech to Conservative Rally in Harrogate

Document type: Speeches, interviews, etc.
Venue: Royal Hall, Harrogate, Yorkshire
Source: Thatcher Archive: speaking text
Editorial comments: Between 1915 and 2030. The text in the Thatcher Archive does not include the peroration. The final words of the speech are reproduced from the BBC TV News Report 2100 9 June 1987 (see editorial notes in text). Sections of the text have also been checked against BBC Radio News Report 2230 9 June 1987 (see editorial notes in text).
Importance ranking: Major
Word count: 2996
Themes: Conservatism, Defence (general), Defence (arms control), Economic policy - theory and process, Industry, General Elections, Monetary policy, Privatized & state industries, Taxation, Housing, Labour Party & socialism, Local government, Society, Social security & welfare, Trade union law reform, Strikes & other union action

INTRODUCTION

I am delighted that our final Conservative Rally in this Election Campaign should be taking place in Yorkshire, the biggest County in Britain—some would say the best—and the home of the White Rose. The Red Rose will lose in this Election, if Yorkshire has anything to do with it! [end p1]

And what better place could there be than a northern city like Harrogate, to dispel the myth that the North is poor, neglected and benighted, while perpetual sunshine bathes the South? [end p2]

THE CHOICE

Mr Chairman, the choice before us in this election is starker and the outcome more important than in any election since the war.

On Thursday we are going to have to decide what kind of people we are and what kind of people we want to be. [end p3]

Are we ready to defend ourselves as we have done so often and so valiantly throughout our history; or are we going to surrender our defences and throw away the freedoms our fathers and grandfathers fought and died for? [end p4]

Are we going to give people the opportunity to do their best and so create prosperity, the prosperity that we need if we are to look after those who cannot look after themselves; or are we going to let a Labour government tax and inflate and regulate until we are all forced into a miserable equality of failure? [end p5] Beginning of section checked against BBC TV News 2100 9 June 1987

Do we want a strife-torn, strike-ridden, divided society; or have we the determination to create a united country based on the un-dreamed of prosperity that the future promises for all our people? End of section checked against BBC TV News Report 2100 9 June 1987.

Let us be clear. What we decide on Thursday will affect, not just our own lives, but the lives of our children and our children's children. [end p6] Beginning of section checked against BBC Radio News Report 0700 10 June 1987

It's taken us eight years, Government and people together, to rebuild our defences, to cut down the overmighty union bosses, to reduce inflation, to transform an economy, blighted by the “British Disease” , into Europe's success story.

How long do you think it would take Labour to destroy our success?

End of section checked against BBC Radio News Report 0700 10 June 1987. [end p7]

Just as a tree that has taken hundreds of years to grow to maturity can be felled in a few minutes, the prosperity that we have built in eight years could be destroyed by Labour in a few short weeks.

Labour is the party of the past. It's policies are backward-looking and divisive. They've failed every time they've been tried. Labour would condemn us and our children to a second-class life in a third-class country. [end p8]

Mr Chairman, this must not happen. It will not happen—provided we put the facts before the people.

There are four great issues in this election—our new prosperity, peace in industry, the building of one Nation, and the defence of Britain. [end p9]

OUR NEW PROSPERITY

Mr Chairman, there are many reasons to be cheerful in Britain today. —Productivity is up —Exports are up. —Our standard of living is up. —All up to record levels. —Unemployment has been falling for the last ten months.

We are in our seventh consecutive year of economic growth, a success that our opponents at home and even our friends abroad thought we could never achieve. [end p10]

It's a success we have every reason to be proud of.

Look around you. More and more hospitals are being built. More people own their own homes than ever before. Many companies, once failures, have been transformed. Their prospects are brighter than ever. [end p11]

Remember British Steel? Who would have believed in 1979 or even in 1983 that in a few short years it would become a world-beater again? Providing jobs, not just for this generation, but for our children and our grandchildren.

Think of Jaguar. It's the same success story—and success is infectious. [end p12] “Made in Britain” means something again.

We are transforming what was an old-fashioned economy into a dynamic, twenty-first century economy.

An economy that is more than capable of looking after those in need.

Pensions are up. [end p13]

Spending on the Health Service is up.

Of course, we know that all decent people, whatever their politics, want to see that those in need are properly provided for. But we are the only party that's frank about where the money comes from.

It doesn't come from government. Government has no money of its own. [end p14]

The money that pays the bills for our hospitals, the money that government gives to our pensioners, the money that government gives to those in need, every penny comes from the pockets of the people. Those who work in factories and on farms in offices and shops—they are the providers. They create the wealth that the Government spends, on behalf of the nation. [end p15]

Government and people built this economic success together. We cut taxes. We reduced inflation We removed red tape and controls.

And the British people did the rest.

But Mr. Chairman, this is just the beginning of success. [end p16]

TAXES

In the last Parliament, we cut the standard rate of income tax—which had been 33 pence in the pound in 1979—right down to 27 pence.

And in the next Parliament, we look forward to bringing it down to twenty-five pence.

But not Labour. For them, the very opposite. They openly admit that they will put up income tax for everyone by tuppence in the pound. [end p17]

And rather late in the day they've been forced to admit that they are going to take away the married man's tax allowance as well—altogether putting up the married man's tax bill by ten pounds a week.

That's one of the bits that couldn't be seen in Labour's iceberg manifesto. Beginning of section checked against BBC TV News 2100 9 June 1987

We know all about it because Nigel Lawson discovered it hidden away in an obscure Labour Policy document published last year. Labour policy documents are Nigel 's favourite reading. (Laughter and applause.) He likes a good mystery. (Laughter.) End of section checked against BBC TV News Report 2100 9 June 1987 [end p18]

The fact is that Labour was hoping to get your vote by promising to give you more money—while secretly planning to take more off you in tax.

That's more off everyone—more off pensioners, more off the single person, more off childless couples, more off those whose children have left home—and not just more off the rich. [end p19]

Labour is really a dab hand at putting up taxes. They should be. They've had lots of practice. And at the end of the day, a smaller pay packet will be all that's left of your hard work [end p20]

Inflation

On inflation, too, the difference between the parties could not be clearer. We want to keep inflation down. It's already four per cent. But that's still not low enough.

The conquest of inflation remains our first objective. Our eventual aim is to cut it to zero and keep it there. [end p21]

But be warned. Another Labour Government could send inflation spiralling up again. [end p22]

With every Labour Government: —Financial prudence goes out of the window. —The pound goes through the floor. —Prices go through the roof.

And only last week on “Panorama” , the Neil KinnockLabour Leader confirmed that Labour had not changed. Its policy is to double inflation to seven per cent.

Mr Chairman, that is how the inflation addict always gets hooked. [end p23] Beginning of section checked against BBC Radio News Report 2230 9 June 1987

He begins by aiming at seven per cent inflation, he ends up getting twenty-seven per cent, as the last Labour Government did. With worse threatening.

And since inflation destroys jobs, he finds he's pushed up unemployment as well.

He winds up with the worst of both worlds. And so would the nation. End of section checked against BBC Radio News Report 2230 9 June 1987. [end p24]

Don't just take my word for it. Listen to the voice of experience, a sadder but wiser Sir James Callaghan, reflecting on the rake's progress of inflation launched by every Labour Government in our lifetime.

“We used to think that you could spend your way out of recession and increase employment by cutting taxes and boosting Government borrowing. [end p25]

I tell you in all candour that that option no longer exists, and that insofar as it ever did exist it worked by injecting inflation into the economy. And each time that has happened, the average level of unemployment has risen. Higher inflation was followed by higher unemployment. That is the history of the last twenty years.” [end p26]

Sir James learned that lesson eleven years ago. The present Labour leader hasn't begun to learn it.

So a Labour Government would inflict ever-rising inflation upon this country.

Mr Chairman, a Labour Government would inflict confetti money on hard-working families. [end p27]

It would reduce the savings and occupational pensions of people in retirement more and more every year—and make a mockery of any increase in the State pension, giving with one hand, while taking away with the other.

It would reverse the steady progress we've made in creating real jobs.

Mr Chairman, today Britain is on the move again. Don't let Labour throw it all away. [end p28]

PEACE IN INDUSTRY

Mr. Chairman, prosperity in industry depends upon peace in industry. And what a transformation there has been in industrial relations.

We have taken power from trade union bosses and given it to where it belongs: to union members. Union members now enjoy the democracy of the ballot box. And it took a Conservative Government to do it. [end p29]

The result? The lowest levels of strikes for fifty years.

How Labour hates all this They hate democracy at the workplace. And so the party which talks about the rights of the working man is pledged to take away the rights of the working man.

Out would go the secret ballot. And back would come strike-happy shop-stewards. [end p30]

Back would come the enforced closed shop. Union bosses would once again have the power to decide if a man should be allowed to work.

Back would come secondary picketing. Back would come the flying pickets, moving around the country to halt production in factories which have no quarrel with anyone.

And, with them, back would come the violence and the intimidation. [end p31]

But don't be surprised. The Labour Party support every strike, no matter what its pretext, no matter how damaging.

During the year long coal strike, the Neil KinnockLabour leader even went to Durham to support Mr. Scargill. Labour claim to speak for the old and the sick. But for twelve months they backed to the hilt a strike specifically designed to cut off their heat and light. [end p32]

And they say they care. Where was Labour when real care was needed? Mr. Chairman, it was this Conservative government who showed both real leadership and real care—care for the elderly and the sick, care for industry and care for the people who work in it. [end p33]

BUILDING ONE NATION

Mr. Chairman, this Conservative Government has been engaged in a crusade to bring the right to own property within the reach of every family in the land. Our dream is that what was once a privilege of the few, should be the daily experience of the many. And it is a dream coming true.

Two out of three homes in the country are now owner-occupied. And a million people would not own the home they do, if the Tories had not introduced the right to buy. [end p34]

Would Labour let you keep your newly bought council house? You know that they didn't want you to have it. Given half a chance, they'd take it away from you. And they certainly wouldn't be keen on other names being added to the list of owners.

The same goes for shares. Not that long ago, the back pages of the Financial Times were thought to be of interest only to a small band of financial experts. Not any longer. [end p35]

Share-ownership is up threefold since 1979. People who've bought shares in British Gas, British Telecom and the other highly successful privatised companies want to see how their shares are doing. Beginning of section checked against BBC TV News Report 2100 9 June 1987

Privatisation has been a huge success. It is selling the family silver back to the family. (Applause.)

And what's more, there's more to come. (Applause.) End of section checked against BBC TV News Report 2100 9 June 1987. [end p36]

The spread of ownership of housing and shares under this government is creating a new society—a nation of families with means of their own and a stake in the future.

These reforms are uniting our country fulfilling the Tory dream of One Nation.

A Labour Government would take back these gains. They want to turn workers against owners; we are turning workers into owners. [end p37]

THE DEFENCE OF BRITAIN

Mr. Chairman, no choice is more fateful than that facing the British people on defence.

If Britain cannot defend herself effectively, then nothing else matters.

The nuclear deterrent has prevented not only nuclear war but conventional war.

A strong defence policy is the only peace policy. [end p38]

Yet an incoming Labour Government would throw away our nuclear defences.

Within a matter of days the order would go out to de-commission Polaris. No opportunity for the Chiefs of Staff to give advice. No consultation with our Allies. No time for wiser counsels to prevail.

American nuclear bases would be kicked out. The result would be to tear apart the Western Alliance. Never mind that America is our staunch ally and trusted friend. [end p39]

Trident—the weapon which guarantees our country's security well into the next century—would be cancelled.

Mr. Chairman, I believe the majority of the British people, no matter what party they support, reject Labour's defence policy—and reject it totally.

The tragedy is that, when East and West are on the verge of the greatest ever breakthrough in arms reductions, Labour's policy would give the Russians everything they want and ask nothing in return. [end p40]

What possible incentive would there be for the Russians even to look in at the Conference. All they'd have to do is sit back and wait for Labour to deliver.

Mr. Chairman, it is vital that Britain keeps a strong defence policy.

Britain is not just another country. We are the country which has always stood at the forefront in defence of freedom. Beginning of section checked against BBC TV News 2100 9 June 1987

We are the country which stood alone when Europe fell. And we are the country which, for nine hundred years, has held out against foreign occupation. [end p41]

Give up Britain's defences? Never! (Applause.) The people know where they stand with the Conservative Party. They know that the defence of Britain is safe in Conservative hands, and safe only in Conservative hands. End of section checked against BBC TV News Report 2100 9 June 1987 [end p42]

LABOUR'S THREAT

Yet all this could change if we, as a nation, make the wrong choice.

Nor would it change slowly.

For Labour is the reckless party. It is reckless about defence. It is reckless about inflation. It is reckless about trade union power. [end p43] And it is reckless, Mr. Chairman, because the candidates behind the Labour leader are farther left than they have ever been.

I'd like to say something to those people who have been traditional Labour supporters. I've addressed a few remarks to them before, I confess not always friendly ones. But when I was a first-time candidate I had many a friendly argument with Labour canvassers. We gave as good as we got. [end p44]

But there was never the fear that Britain would be placed in jeopardy by the advent of a Labour Government led by someone like Attlee, or Gaitskell. We differed—yes. But not about defending Britain. Not about supporting the police. Not about backing the family. [end p45]

Today's extremist Labour Party is an opponent of a very different kind. Many loyal Labour supporters have been driven out of their party by the new hard-faced militants. These extremists—something entirely new in our political life—have now dislodged moderate MPs and are standing in their place. The next Parliamentary Labour Party will be dominated by these people. And the more Labour MPs there are, the more extremist the parliamentary party will become. [end p46]

So I say to old Labour supporters. The extremists have already taken over your party. Don't let them take over your country. [end p47]

CONCLUSION

Mr Chairman, we come to the final hours of this crucial election, perhaps the most crucial of the century.

We Conservatives are not bound by dogma. We don't believe we have all the answers. But we have certain solid credentials.

We Conservatives are traditionalists by choice, who believe in letting well alone. [end p48]

But we are also radicals when necessary. Always, we begin by asking: “Will it actually work?” “Will it enlarge freedom?”

Above all, we are the party of service. We offer the nation our skills, our experience, our practical wisdom, often painfully acquired.

But we do not forget that you, the electors, are the Masters, and we are the servants. What we have is a partnership—government and people. [end p49]

Mr Chairman, it is in this spirit—a spirit of pride in our joint achievement—that we seek a renewal of that partnership.

It's rare for a party to ask the country for a third consecutive term of office. We do so, not complacently, but knowing that we still have much to do together. [end p50]

In eight years our partnership with the people has transformed Britain from a country that had lost its way into a sturdy, vigorous and highly respected member of the world community.

Now, in the years to come, we have the chance to do something together which will be even more enduring: Thatcher Archive text ends [end p51] Conclusion of speech taken from BBC TV News Report 2100 9 June 1987

We are a forward—looking people. We are a lion-hearted nation, ready to confront the twenty first century and reach out for greatness again. Let us continue our task on Thursday. (Applause.)