Poll Tax Riots (1990)

Sat Mar 31, 1990

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Image: A couple kiss during the poll tax riots in 1990. Photograph: David Hoffman Photo Library

On this day in 1990, 180k-250k people gathered in Kennington Park, London to protest an unpopular poll tax imposed by the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher, leading to widespread police brutality and rioting. By 1991, the government promised to replace the tax, and the poll tax was repealed in 1993.

The proposed poll tax was a “Community Charge”, a head tax that saw every adult pay a fixed rate amount set by their local authority according to Daily Telegraph correspondent Nick Collins.

The Charge proved extremely unpopular; while students and the registered unemployed had to pay 20%, some large families occupying relatively small houses saw their charges go up considerably, and the tax was thus accused of saving the rich money and moving the expenses onto the poor.

On March 31st, 1990, between 180,000 and 250,000 people gathered in Kennington Park. A police report completed a year after the riot estimated the crowd at 200,000.

The rally was met with a large police presence, and rioting broke out around 4pm. By midnight, around 113 people were injured, mostly members of the public and 339 people had been arrested.

Radical left-wing groups in the protest, anarchists and the UK Socialist Workers’ Party (SWP) in particular, were blamed by various media and political figures for the violence and property destruction. A member of the SWP Central Committee told The Times: “We did not go on the demonstration with any intention of fighting with the police, but we understand why people are angry and we will not condemn that anger.” A 1991 police report concluded there was “no evidence that the trouble was orchestrated by left-wing anarchist groups”.

The large scale of opposition and resistance would facilitate Thatcher’s fall from power as Prime Minister and Conservative leader later that year, and the poll tax itself would later be abolished entirely, replaced with a “Council Tax” in 1993.