Ugh, this makes me seethe! An article appearing in The Daily Record and Socialist Unity once again rakes up the Poll Tax - and in a not-very-clever reworking of history, we are led to believe that it was the Scots who "spread" the Protest Campaign to England and Wales! Yep, apparently we English were bleating around like a load of sheep, as usual! It took the brave and noble Scots to energise us.
Rubbish! The arrogance of it!
I find this particularly offensive as I joined an anti-poll tax group in England in 1988 and we were going great guns by the beginning of 1989. Indeed, there were similar groups all around England before the end of 1988.
But was it worth it? After all, with history being rewritten at the Daily Record and Socialist Unity, one can hardly believe that the English had any gumption on the matter at all before the Scots showed them the way.
Drivel!
Here's some stuff about the campaign in England in 1988 and 1989 -
http://80sactual.blogspot.com/2005/05/say-no-to-poll-tax.html
This one by Maria
Scottish politicians begged for the Poll Tax because their rates were to be reassessed one year ahead of England's, as usual. They feared a huge hike in the rates and persuaded Thatcher to rush it in. So rather than being 'experimented' on with the tax, the Scots actually caused it to be rushed in. We all ended up with a botched up mess because of the Scots.
ReplyDeleteMalcolm Rifkind and Kenn Clarke have said as much and it is in Hansards and the press archives.