LOCAL politicians have paid their own tributes to former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

The National Assembly for Wales's flags have been flying at half-mast since the announcement of the death of Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven on Monday.

Presiding Officer, Rosemary Butler AM said: "The former Prime Minister has been a key figure in British history and no doubt made a huge impact on all our lives.

"It is right that the National Assembly for Wales marks the passing of such an influential figure in British life."

Nick Ramsay AM for Monmouth said: "Baroness Thatcher was instrumental in halting the economic decline that had plagued Britain throughout the 1970s.

"She provided strong leadership on the world stage and her partnership with President Reagan and the Soviet Union's Mikhail Gorbachev helped resolve the tensions of the Cold War, making the world a safer place for generations to come.

"Baroness Thatcher changed Britain for the better and I've no doubt her legacy will stand the test of time."

The current Monmouth MP David Davies said he had been inspired by Margaret Thatcher to join the Conservative Party during the 1980s and he believes that she was one of the greatest Prime Ministers of the last century.

He added: "At the time she became Prime Minister the British economy was in a state of near collapse. She pioneered a series of economic reforms which, although criticised at the time, went on to be widely copied by governments of left and right throughout the developed world and it is for this that she will always be remembered.

"However I believe that equally important was Lady Thatcher's contribution to the end of the Cold War which had divided the world. Along with other statesmen such as Ronald Reagan she was opposed to any policy of appeasement with the Soviet bloc who were imprisoning their citizens behind a heavily armed and impregnable border.

"The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the subsequent move to democracy was something that might not have happened without the determination by Western leaders such as Lady Thatcher to stand up for human rights and freedom in the Communist ruled nations of Eastern Europe.

"On a personal note, I was very saddened to hear of her death but I will always remain proud to call myself a Thatcherite."

It is believed that Margaret Thatcher only made one visit to Abergavenny to open a Christmas fair organised by the Abergavenny branch of the Monmouth Women's Unionist Association at the Town Hall on November 17, 1960 a year after she was elected as MP for Finchley.