Mrs Thatcher rejects TV debate offer

Press, 14 May 1987, Page 10

Mrs Thatcher rejects TV debate offer

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DEBORAH TELFORD

of Reuters NZPA-Reuter London The British Prime Minister, Mrs Margaret Thatcher, commanding a comfortable lead in opinion polls ahead of next month’s General Election, has refused to appear in a televised debate with the opposition Labour leader, Mr Neil Kinnock. Mrs Thatcher, whose Conservative Government is seeking a third term in power in early elections on June 11, rejected Mr Kinnock’s challenge to defend her Government’s free-market policies by appearing face to face with him. She told Mr Kinnock in

a parliamentary exchange he would have to find his “own platform." Parliament rushed through last-minute legislation before it is dissolved on Monday and political parties traded insults ahead of the official start of the three-week election campaign next week.

Mr Kinnock scored a minor victory within his own party by defeating extreme manifesto proposals by Left-wingers he hopes to silence in the run-up to the polls. He moved to tame Leftwingers, which the soft left within the party fear could alienate some traditional Labour voters, by insisting on a moderate manifesto.

Mr Kinnock rejected proposals to close all American military bases in Britain, and seek the dismantling of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation along with the Warsaw Pact. He also refused to take a hard line on rena-. tionalising British Telecom and British Gas, two of several former State-owned concerns which have been privatised under Mrs Thatcher.

Labour hopes to play down its controversial defence policy which is based on unilaterally scrapping Britain’s nuclear deterrent force and closing United States nuclear bases. But the Conservatives

and the opposition centrist Social Democratic Liberal Alliance jumped on what they saw as the first preelection gaffe by the Labour foreign affairs spokesman, Mr Denis Healey, who said during a trip to Moscow, “I think the Russians are praying for a Labour victory.” Mr Healey tried to modify his remarks but both the Conservatives and the Alliance said it was not surprising the Kremlin was praying for Labour to win because its defence policies would leave Britain totally vulnerable to Moscow. On his return to London Mr Healey said that his comments were meant to be lighthearted.

“But there’s no doubt

that our (Labour’s and Moscow’s) policies are closely related on this area (nuclear disarmament) and Mrs Thatcher ...has been accused of Nuclearphilia. And I think that the Labour Party is closer both to President Reagan and Mr Gorbachev,” he told reporters.

Several bills were rushed through Parliament including the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Bill, which contains tough powers to crackdown on drug traffickers in Scotland.

Despite strong resistance from the Opposition, the Government also pushed through a 2 per cent cut in income tax announced in the Budget earlier this year.