The electoral impact of the poll tax: Evidence from the 1990 local elections in England and Wales

1991 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 145-158
Author(s):  
Colin Railings ◽  
Michael Thrasher
1991 ◽  
Vol 30 (109) ◽  
pp. 7-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Wilder

Acta Politica ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 131-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Audrey André ◽  
Sam Depauw

2019 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 233-250 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gavin Brown

This paper offers a new way of conceptualising how intersectional solidarities are actualised. It recounts and theorises an outbreak of radical internationalism, when working class struggles in Britain and South Africa were unexpectedly linked. It examines how intersectional solidarity was materialised through a process of coming together against the architectural fabric of the South African Embassy and considers the interwoven temporalities that enabled this action to occur. On 31 March 1990, nearly a quarter of a million people demonstrated in London against the Poll Tax that was due to take effect in England and Wales the following day. On the day, the Metropolitan Police lost control of an already enraged crowd and provoked a large scale riot that engulfed the West End of London for several hours. In the midst of the riot, during a short retreat by the police, protesters took the opportunity to attack the South African Embassy in Trafalgar Square – many windows were broken and an attempt was made to set the building alight. Drawing on interviews with former anti-apartheid protesters who were present on that day (and who had concluded a four-year long Non-Stop Picket of the embassy a month earlier), this paper explores and analyses their memories of that unexpected moment when their previously symbolic call to ‘burn it down’ was (almost) materialised. In doing so, it contributes new ways of conceptualising the spatiality and temporality of intersectional solidarity.


1994 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Bellamy

Resistance To The Poll Tax Has Been Described As ‘The greatest popular rejection of unjust law since Chartist time’. During the period 1990 – 91, for example, summonses for nonpayment in England and Wales were taken out agaha nearly a quarter of those registered for the charge, whilst in Scotland approximately 38 per cent of the registered population were pursued by legal means. Somewhat surprisingly in the light of the large numbers of people involved and the undoubted role which the unpopularity of the tax played in Mrs Thatcher's removal from the premiership, the campaign has reccived little attention from political scientists and none, as far as I know, from legal or political philosophers.


1992 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 516-531 ◽  
Author(s):  
John G. Gibson ◽  
John D. Stewart

The 1990 London local elections provided a unique opportunity to examine the sensitivity of voters to two local taxes: domestic rates and poll tax. Both taxes were found to have had an important influence on voting but in unequal proportions according to party incumbency prior to 1990. In Conservative boroughs swing was sensitive to poll tax level but this was not true in Labour boroughs. In both, swing was sensitive to the change in average local tax level in the switch from domestic rates to poll tax in 1990. Rate increases between 1986 and 1989 had a substantial effect in Labour boroughs. Other variables, such as service levels and some borough-level issues, also contributed to the high levels of explanation achieved.


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