The Poll Tax, the Electoral Register, and the 1991 Census: An Update

The authors review various attempts to quantify the drop-off in the British electoral register between 1986 and 1991. In particular, the authors try to measure how much of that drop-off may be attributed to deliberate disappearance from the electoral register in the hope of avoiding liability for the poll tax or community charge. They conclude that deliberate disappearance involved about 600,000 people which probably cost the opposition parties 10 seats at the 1992 general election. Although modest, these effects are sufficient to have altered party control of the House of Commons by 1993. Parallels with the Peasants Revolt of 1381 are also drawn.