The Prime Minister, who's continuing her visit to Scotland, has dismissed rumours that she might be about to resign as “poppycock”. At the same time, Mrs Thatcher again denounced violence at anti poll-tax demonstrations. Our correspondent, Reevel Alderson, reports: [end p1]
Alderson
On a visit to a farm in Stirlingshire, Mrs Thatcher was asked about rumours, which swept the financial markets yesterday, that she was about to resign. It was a story which badly affected the value of the pound against international currencies. Mrs Thatcher dismissed the story as “poppycock”. She then turned her attention to the violence which broke out last night at Lambeth in south London, following a meeting called to set the local authority's community charge figure. It was the fifth successive night there'd been violence at such a meeting.
Thatcher
Any violent demonstrations are a negation of democracy. People can demonstrate peacefully, that is their right. But violence is really anti-democratic. This means these measures have been through Parliament, been through our Parliamentary system and have been in, in being in Scotland, and they will continue to implement it south of the border.
Alderson
Subsequently Mrs Thatcher visited Ibrox Stadium in Glasgow, home of Rangers Football Club. She praised the facilities, which, she said, provided a model for clubs elsewhere in Britain to emulate in the wake of the Taylor report into safety at sports grounds. But she ruled out government financial assistance, saying clubs already received cash for improvements from bodies, such as the Football Trust and the pools promoters.