Thatcher Acts to Overhaul Welfare System
LONDON — Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher stepped up her war on socialism today by introducing radical changes in welfare payments that will affect 8.6 million people.
Her Conservative government’s changes range from ending housing subsidies for 1 million of the poor to raising benefits for low-income working families.
Disabled people get higher payments, but most free school meals are taken away. Most grants with which the needy can buy beds and stoves have been changed to interest-free loans.
Pensioners presented a petition at Thatcher’s 10 Downing Street office, and Conservative legislators braced for a renewed onslaught when Parliament resumes Tuesday.
Revamping of the 43-year-old welfare system is the third part of a Thatcher government program that has curbed state spending and greatly reduced the power of labor unions.
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.
Thatcher says she is not cutting the $86-billion welfare bill but refocusing it on the truly needy.
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