MP faced angry crowds as poll tax march filled streets
HUNDREDS of protesters converged on Swadlincote in February 1990 demanding an end to the “criminal poll tax”.
They came from Midway, Newhall, Burton, Hartshorne, Church Gresley, Woodville, Linton, Overseal and Derby, and ranged from pensioners to parents with toddlers.
At the height of the protest police stepped in, linking arms to hold back protesters trying to cram through the doors of a community centre where South Derbyshire Conservative MP Edwina Currie was holding a surgery.
As the crowd swelled to around 500, a chant of “Maggie Out” rang out across the crowded bus station as Mrs Currie disappeared into the building.
A sea of people had earlier paraded through Swadlincote with banners and placards demanding an end to the tax. Marching in step the protesters chanted “We are going to dump the Tory poll tax in the Trent”.
The organiser of the march was 70-year-old Dorothy Dawes, who said that the idea passed by word of mouth and culminated in what marchers described as an “expression of anger and frustration felt by thousands”.
Mrs Dawes said: “We want Tyler not Thatcher. This is the 600th anniversary of Watt Tyler. In his time whole villages were burnt to stop the criminal poll tax.”
Addressing some of the protestors, South Derbyshire MP Edwina Currie said: “I live here and have to pay it as well. Everybody has two pockets. One is the pocket the Government puts money in and the other they take it out of. While some authorities are prudent, Derbyshire is spending like crazy.”
A petition with the names of more than 2,000 South Derbyshire residents stated simply that residents wished to register their protest at the imposition of the poll tax and the excessive district charge of £450.
Mrs Currie said that she would take some of the concerns of pensioners and disabled people back to Westminster. Many angry pensioners walked out of the surgery to join the protesters outside.