Britain is a more selfish place as a result of Margaret Thatcher's political and economic policies, a northern bishop has said.The Bishop of Middlesbrough Terence Drainey said the former Conservative Prime Minister, who died on Monday aged 87, was a divisive figure whose policies had improved the lot of "the extremely rich".
"On hearing of her death I said an ‘eternal rest' for her soul," Bishop Drainey told The Tablet but added: "Britain is much more selfish as a result of her agenda and what industry we were once proud of has all been sold off to improve the lot of the extremely rich."
In Northern Ireland, the Bishop Emeritus of Derry, Edward Daly has suggested the former Prime Minister's hardline stance towards demands made by Republican prisoners in 1980 led to the hunger strikes of 1981 in which 10 died, including Bobby Sands, a member of the provisional IRA.
Conservative Catholic politicians of the Thatcher era were more positive about her legacy.
Lord Patten of Barnes, her one-time Environment Secretary, described her as "one of the greatest British Prime Ministers of the twentieth century".