Thatcher's Third Term Target

...For purposes of local revenue (as distinct from national income tax), every adult in a community would have to be taxed equally regardless of income...

...In short, the idea is to transform the depressed regions of the country from which Labor draws its greatest backing...

...Yet despite the Prime Minister's eight years in office, many of the welfare state enactments of past Labor governments remain firmly in place...

...Its pro-Labor political activity has also been restricted by Tory-sponsored anti-union legislation, whose full impact was felt for the first time in the latest contest...

...That the uncharitable Thatcherite ethic is having a profound effect on British society was demonstrated by the Iron Lady's success in winning a third consecutive term (a feat unmatched by any British prime minister this century) with a far larger majority than her most enthusiastic advisers foresaw...

...Productivity, efficiency and industrial morale have rebounded sharply from the deep malaise that afflicted the country during the last Labor government and Thatcher's first term...

...Thatcher in the May balloting, the Laborites retain formidable support in parts of the country, particularly Scotland, Wales and Northern England...

...Some Councils have more than doubled their rates recently...

...Perhaps her announced determination to wipe out British Socialism really means undermining the foundation of Labor, the party that since 1922 has alternated with the Tories as either Britain's government or official opposition...

...A key measure would prevent the Councils from skewing taxes toward householders and businesses, as they do now...

...Although humiliated by Mrs...

...The Labor Party is groggy from its electoral defeat, but it would be premature to count it out...

...In any event, the Conservative program will require a large amount of financing, so its realization will very much depend on the condition of the British economy...

...Hence a persistent refrain from many Tories—albeit not from the Prime Minister or her official entourage—is that the British army of unemployed is swollen by people who are content to let the government pay their living expenses, rather than go out to work...

...The NHS is indeed conspicuously underfunded, and its charge for prescriptions has risen 1,200 per cent to £2.40 ($3.90) under Thatcher...

...Others, however, smilingly recall Labor Prime Minister Harold Wilson boasting in the 1960s, after a series of victories at the polls, that Labor was Britain's natural party...

...Plans are being drawn up for clearing derelict areas to make room for housing projects and schools...

...Over the past few years, there has been an improvement in economic performance...

...Adding to Labor's troubles, legislation aimed at weakening local government Councils—where much of its remaining political clout resides—is soon to be introduced in the Tory-dominated House of Commons...

...Tory leaders are confident their frontal assault on Labor's pockets of strength will have long-term positive consequences...

...Still elated by the election victory and shunning traditional British understatement, they talk of retaining power in the country well into the next century...

...They are thus making significant inroads in inner city Labor strongholds...

...No government in London, regardless of political orientation, could fail to offer assistance to the one out of every nine members of the workforce currently jobless...

...In fact, the most potent attack on the Prime Minister by Labor Party spokesmen in the course of the recent election accused her of inadequate concern for the problems of the less well off...

...The Tories were unable to elect a single member of Parliament in four major Northern cities— Newcastle, Liverpool, Manchester, and Bradford—and barely clung to Parliamentary seats in other cities of the economically hard-pressed North...

...Certainly when it comes to spreading the country's wealth she is very much committed to the largely discredited trickle-down philosophy...

...His latest book is The Berlin Wall: Kennedy, Khrushchev, and a Showdown in the Heart of Europe...

...SOCIALISM IN BRITAIN Thatcher's Third Term Target By Norman Gelb London While Margaret Thatcher was campaigning for a third term—with great success, as it turned out—she served notice that in addition to staying on at Number 10 Downing Street, she was determined to eradicate socialism in Britain...

...Britain's greatest welfare achievement is the National Health Service (NHS...

...Of course, Britain must export its manufactured goods in order to prosper...

...Where Labor Leader Neil Kinnock speaks of compassion for the disadvantaged and a united effort to right society's wrongs, the Prime Minister speaks of entrepreneurial initiative to make Britain great once more...

...Actually, she has no choice...

...But even in these places Labor is extremely vulnerable at present for several reasons: 1. The British trade union movement, the Labor Party's backbone and prime financial supporter, has been weakened by the country's high levels of unemployment...

...It might appear, therefore, that the Prime Minister is prepared to make certain allowances as she goes about obliterating the Socialist presence...

...And following Labor's third defeat in a row, some union leaders are wondering whether it is worthwhile to go on bankrolling a political organization lacking the leverage to advance pro-union positions in Parliament...

...Norman Gelb is the NL's London correspondent...

...A sprouting of protectionism, a downturn in international trade or a failure to compete in the world market could easily undermine Margaret Thatcher's plans—and could send her earlier than expected to the comfortable retirement home she has bought in a leafy southern suburb of London...

...The Prime Minister is fundamentally altering the face of politics here...

...As a result, say the Tories, they have driven out businesses, and have contributed substantially to unemployment and urban decay in a number of the larger cities...

...This is intended to discourage Left-wing Councils from raising levies at every opportunity—if they want to stay in office...

...More to the point, such benefits as weekly subsidies for all parents of small children, open-ended unemployment payments, rent rebates for the poor, and a wide range of other money and service "supplements" for the low paid and jobless have gone unchallenged by the Blessed Margaret (as some irreverent Tories have come to call their leader...

...Few of these individuals will be enchanted by Labor's promise that if it returns to power, it will renationalize " public assets"—and additional industries are to be denationalized shortly...

...2. Increasing numbers of Britons have been lured into buying shares in industries Labor had previously nationalized —gas, oil, British Airways, telecommunications, Rolls-Royce—but the Tories have sold off "to build a propertyowning democracy...

...3. By encouraging people living in public housing projects to buy their homes, and making it easier for them to do so, the Tories have been further extending "property-owning democracy" to many who do not own stock...

...According to the most devout Thatcherites, the bedrock of British Socialism is composed of cradle-to-grave handouts extravagantly available to all and sundry...

...More and more people are covered by private health insurance, yet they still constitute a comparatively small, privileged minority...

...Her solid Parliamentary majority notwithstanding, she would face a revolt within the Conservative Party, an uproar across the country and possibly trouble in the streets were she to try to dismantle some of the institutions that have become fundamental components of the British experience since the end of World War II...

...Today there are more shareholders in Britain than union members, and the two groups are no longer mutually exclusive...

...Nevertheless, the Health Service not only continues to provide free, reasonably comprehensive medical care to most of the country but the government has promised to improve it...

...Changes in local taxing procedures are scheduled to coincide with a concerted Tory drive to entice businesses back to depressed inner city areas of Northern England...

...The Prime Minister did not specify precisely what that meant, though, and it is still not altogether clear...

...Public opinion polls found that even many who voted for Thatcher believe she is "uncaring...

...This, it is claimed, undermines the enterprise for which Britons were renowned in days of yore...

...During the campaign Laborites insisted it was being run down by Thatcher...

...Moreover, thanks to revolutions in industrial technology and international trade (compounded by domestic factors), Britain has for several years now suffered the highest level of unemployment of any major industrial nation...