Margaret Thatcher: “No, No, No!” (1990)

Margaret Thatcher, leader of the Conservative Party and British Prime Minister from 1979-1990, gave this speech in the House of Parliament on October 30, 1990 rejecting moves toward a more closely united Europe.

The video is edited. A full transcript can be found on the MargaretThatcher.org website, and a full 30-minute video of the speech here, on the same site.

Margaret Thatcher: Yes, the Commission does want to increase its powers. Yes, it is a non-elected body and I do not want the Commission to increase its powers at the expense of the House, so of course we are differing. Of course…

The President of the Commission, Mr. Delors, said at a press conference the other day that he wanted the European Parliament to be the democratic body of the Community, he wanted the Commission to be the Executive and he wanted the Council of Ministers to be the Senate. No. No. No.

Or…. or…..or…..

Perhaps the Labour party would give all those things up easily. Perhaps it would agree to a single currency, to total abolition of the pound sterling. Perhaps, being totally incompetent with monetary matters, they’d be only too delighted to hand over full responsibility as they did to the IMF, to a central bank. The fact is they have no competence on money and no competence on the economy—so, yes, the right hon. Gentleman would be glad to hand it all over. What is the point in trying to get elected to Parliament only to hand over your sterling and the powers of this House to Europe?

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