Much of Scotland hated Thatcher personally, but both her policies and her party were far more popular there than in many comparably populous parts of England.
Proportionately more people in Scotland than in England bought shares in the privatised industries, the Tories' number of seats was respectable, their share of the vote was more than respectable (at one in six on a four-way split, it is still quite healthy), their municipal base experienced nothing like the devastation that it did in much of England, and so on.
The Poll Tax was imposed early by popular demand, there was a never a riot against it, there was nothing like the problem of mass non-payment that there was in much of England, and at the subsequent General Election Scotland was the only part of the country to experience a net gain in Tory seats. People who shout the loudest are not necessarily representative of anyone but themselves.
All in all, it is no wonder that over half the Scottish electorate now supports what, for all its Hard Left activists all the way up to the Deputy Leader, is in practice possibly the most uniformly pro-big business party in the world, with its base in one of the richest areas in Europe, where private sector employment is higher than in the South East of England.
But then, per capita income in Scotland as a whole is 100 per cent of the national average. Poor Scotland is as much a myth as left-wing Scotland.
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In the world of football, anyone with Scottish grandparents is eligible to play for Scotland. I wonder if the same rules will apply to the referendum and anyone who can claim Scottish grandparents will get a vote?
ReplyDeleteGoebbels would be so proud of what you have written in your attempt to revise history.
ReplyDeletePoll Tax did not come to Scotland by popular demand. It was the Scottish Tories who thought it would be popular. A serious miscalculation.
The Tories were out of power in the all the regional councils by 1986. They kept control over some district councils - notably Stirling, Berwickshire and Kyle and Carrick. And of course Eastwood. Out of 53 district councils.
"most uniformly pro-big business party in the world"
Compared to the US Republican Party!!!!
Goebbels of the Wear.
Ah well, the coalition has conceded the "sunset clause" idea. And Salmond has announced the referendum will be held in the period the SNP leaked to the press on New Year's Day and was reported in the Sunday Times. A week before this week's events------
People who shout the loudest are not necessarily representative of anyone but themselves.
ReplyDeleteThere's a lot of mythology about the Poll Tax and Scotland.
ReplyDeleteMyth 1: The tax was not an electoral asset. Fact: There's a difference between a vote winner and an electoral asset. You don't just win votes to win elections. You also get the opposition's core supporters to stay at home. One way to do this is to get them off the electoral register. With the Poll Tax, they took themselves off it.
Myth 2: The Poll Tax was unpopular because it was an experiment. Fact: Scots don't mind experimental policies. The smoking ban was popular in part because it was experimental. The problem with the Poll Tax was that it was perceived to be someone else's experiment.
Finally, Myth 3: The really big myth that the Poll Tax came to Scotland first because of some desire to have it. Truth: What people wanted was irrelevant. It came here first because a tightly worded existing statute meant that it couldn't be delayed, which it could be and was in England. Facts are rarely glamorous.