Thatcher Proposes Welfare Overhaul

Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher stepped up her war on British socialism Monday by introducing radical changes in welfare payments that will affect 8.6 million people.

Her Conservative government’s proposals range from ending housing subsidies for 1 million of the poor to raising benefits for low-income working families.

Disabled people would get higher payments, but most free school meals would be taken away. Most grants to the needy to buy beds and stoves would be changed to interest-free loans.

Pensioners presented a petition at Thatcher’s Downing Street office to protest lost benefits, and Conservative legislators braced for a renewed onslaught when Parliament resumes today.

Critics in the socialist Labor Party accuse Thatcher of a fundamental attack on the welfare state, established by a Labor administration in 1945 and expanded by every government since.

However, Thatcher says she is not cutting the $86-billion welfare bill but is instead refocusing it on the truly needy.