Apologies to Scotland for poll tax

HAMISH MACDONELL


IAIN Duncan Smith will today admit the Conservatives made a mistake by introducing the poll tax in Scotland before the rest of the UK.

The Tory leader will use his speech to the Scottish Conservative Conference in Perth to come closer than any senior Tory has done before to issuing an apology for the reviled charge.

In what will be interpreted as a clear rejection of the Thatcher legacy, he will say the Tory wipeout in the 1997 election, when the party lost its Scottish seats, did not happen without reason.

And he will add: "Scotland’s people, in particular, felt we didn’t share their concerns and their values. The introduction of the poll tax in Scotland, one year ahead of the rest of Britain, encapsulated that problem."

The poll tax was introduced in Scotland in April 1989, one year ahead of England and Wales, a decision which fuelled resentment and mass protest.

Mr Duncan Smith will today insist the era of poll tax protests and deep unpopularity of the Thatcher government is now "a closed chapter".

The admission is part of his attempt to position the Tories as a compassionate party, representing the poor and dispossessed as well as the middle class. David McLetchie, the Scottish Conservative Leader, is a supporter of the "one nation" approach espoused by Mr Duncan Smith after he visited Easterhouse, in Glasgow.

In his last address to the Scottish conference before next year’s Scottish elections, Mr Duncan Smith will also champion the Scottish Tories as the "party of ideas" in Scotland.


 http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/index.cfm?id=536102002