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Glasgow Live
Glasgow Live
National
Jennifer Russell

Fighting the poll tax - a look back at one of Glasgow's biggest battles captured in photos

There are few words which resonate as much 30 years later as this seemingly innocent couple; poll tax.

It may have been April Fools Day, but when the Conservative government - led by Margaret Thatcher - introduced the now infamous tax, Scotland wasn't going to be taken for a fool.

It started and ended in a bitter fight with the formation of the All Britain Anti Poll Tax Federation, or The Feds as they became to be known.

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In fact, Tommy Sheridan was a key figure in the movement and would go on to be the first Briton jailed over the tax.

The poll tax was introduced to replace domestic rates. It provided for a single flat-rate tax on every adult, at a rate set by the local authority.

And from April 1, 1989 the people of Scotland, and in particular Glasgow and the west, fought long and hard to have the hated tax abolished.

It was introduced in Scotland one full year before England and Wales, which led to Scotland being referred to as Thatcher's guinea pig. We weren't the only ones kicking off, however - on the eve of the introduction south of the border, on March 31 1990, mass demonstrations and riots broke out.

But back in Glasgow in 1989, some 50,000 people from all sections of the working class and from across Scotland marched in the city centre.

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Glasgow's protest passed peacefully but later in London it was a different story - there, more than 300 people were arrested and 113 people, including police officers, were injured.

By the end of 1990, one million Scots had refused to pay their poll tax.

It was considered to be the downfall of Margaret Thatcher as she would later resign.

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However, it wasn't until 1993 when John Major took office that the tax was abolished and replaced by council tax.

The late 80s are remembered as a tough time even to this day, but it was a fight Scotland won - and in 2014, then First Minister Alex Salmond announced plans to stop councils collecting poll tax debt, stating: "All poll tax debt would be written off".

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