Latest editorial
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.
Burnham’s billions for defence while councils and local services struggle will not deliver the change that Britain’s working-class communities need, says MICAELA TRACEY-RAMOS
The public inquiry is the result of more than a decade of determined campaigning. Now, those who fought for justice want the full story of government involvement and police conduct to be told, says KATE FLANNERY
The Tory conference was a pseudo-sacred affair, with devotees paying homage in front of Thatcher’s old shrouds — and your reporter, initially barred, only need mention he’d once met her to gain access. But would she consider what was on offer a worthy legacy, asks ANDREW MURRAY