THATCHER secretly continued pursuing her bloody-minded plans to destroy the welfare state even after ministers thought they had been killed off by a cabinet revolt, according to previously withheld documents published yesterday.

The proposals — drawn up by the Central Policy Review Staff (CPRS) — were among the most contentious and savage to be considered by the Tory regime during Thatcher's reign.

They included scrapping free universal healthcare and requiring people to take out private insurance, charging for education, ending the annual uprating of benefits in line with inflation and sweeping defence cuts.