Speeches, etc.

Margaret Thatcher

Message to Conservative European Election candidates

Document type: Speeches, interviews, etc.
Source: Thatcher Archive: CCOPR 31/89
Editorial comments: Embargoed until 0030 12 June 1989.
Importance ranking: Major
Word count: 257
Themes: European elections, European Union (general), Labour Party & socialism

There is a clear choice at these elections.

We Conservatives want a Europe of enterprise, applying in the European Community those policies which have made Britain prosperous and brought down unemployment. We want a Europe of independent States and free peoples, co-operating closely wherever that makes sense, yet relishing their identity and resisting overweening bureaucracy.

Our opponents want—as they have always wanted—Socialism. Red tape and regulation. State intervention and control. Trade union bosses back in the driving seat. They talk of a social Europe. They mean and want a Socialist Europe. To apply in the European Community the very policies which failed in Britain under Labour would throw away all those opportunities which the Single European Market now presents. It would mean lower living standards, less choice for the consumer and higher unemployment as Europe, strangled by bureaucracy, fell further behind its competitors.

These elections really matter. The Centre-Right has only a narrow majority in the European Parliament. And the European Parliament itself now has more influence on our lives. Britain needs a full Conservative team of MEPs co-operating closely with a Conservative Government to defend the country's interests and set the agenda for the 1990s. [end p1]

So I join with you in urging every Conservative supporter, indeed everyone who wants Europe to go forward to prosperity not back to Socialism, to come out and vote Conservative on 15th June.

To you and to all our candidates I send my warmest wishes for victory on Thursday.