Neil Kinnock’s warning

Press, 28 June 1983, Page 20

Neil Kinnock’s warning

The Neil Kinnock so little known outside the Labour Party is a powerful Welsh orator. Here was his eve-of-poll message of doom, hoarsely delivered to the voters of Bridgend:

If Margaret Thatcher is reelected as Prime Minister, I warn you, I warn you that you will have pain — when healing and relief depend upon payment. I warn you that you will have ignorance — when talents are untended and wits are wasted, when learning is a privilege and not a right. I warn you that you will have poverty — when pensions slip and benefits are whittled away by a Government that won’t pay in an economy that can’t pay. I warn you that you will be cold

— when fuel charges are used as a tax system that the rich don’t notice and the poor can’t afford. I warn you that you must not expect work — when many cannot spend, more will not be able to earn. When they don’t earn, they don’t spend. When they don’t spend, work dies. 1 warn you not to go into the streets alone after dark or into the streets in large crowds of protest in the light. I warn you that you will be quiet — when the curfew of fear

and the gibbet of unemployment make you obedient. I warn you that you will have defence of a sort — with a risk and at a price that passes all understanding. I warn you that you will be home-bound — when fares and transport bills kill leisure and lock you up. I warn you that you will borrow less — when credit, loans, mortgages and easy payments are refused to people on your melting income. If Margaret Thatcher wins on Thursday — I warn you not to be ordinary I warn you not to be young I warn you not to fall ill I warn you not to get old.