The Scotsman cartoon: Poll tax revelation

MARGARET Thatcher and the Conservative government in the 1980s used Scotland as a poll tax guinea pig, recently discovered papers have indicated.

Illustration: Iain Green

The new evidence reveals Scottish secretary George Younger played a strong role in persuading the PM to introduce poll tax - officially called the community charge - as opposed to one based on property.

Conservative Party figures have always insisted the tax was introduced in Scotland first purely to avoid another rates revaluation.

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• Tories used Scotland as ‘poll tax guinea pig’

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