QUB History Seminar: Peter Farrelly

The History Seminar Series is happy to host Peter Farrelly (Queen's University Belfast) on 28th November in Room 01.003, 27 University Square at 4:00pm.

Margaret Thatcher’s Community Charge, famously known as the "Poll Tax," is frequently remembered as a policy destroyed by the dual forces of high-political maneuvering and the violent street riots of March 1990. However, this paper challenges that dominant historiography by illuminating a decisive third force: the organized opposition of British civic society. Drawing on contemporary reports and institutional records, it argues that a "coalition of conscience"—comprising charities, religious institutions, and trade unions—was instrumental in transforming a technical policy failure into an insurmountable moral crisis. The analysis demonstrates how these three pillars operated in concert to sink the government's "flagship policy." The voluntary sector, spearheaded by the Child Poverty Action Group, provided forensic evidence of the tax’s regressive human cost; religious leaders deployed theological language to frame the levy as fundamentally unjust; and trade unions supplied the organizational muscle to render the system unworkable through bureaucratic obstruction. By coordinating resistance across secular and spiritual divides, these actors did not merely critique the tax but actively dismantled its legitimacy. Ultimately, this paper contends that the Poll Tax was defeated not simply by riot or rebellion, but by a sophisticated civic counter-revolution that mobilized the moral economy of the British public.

Peter Farrelly is a History PhD candidate at Queen’s University, Belfast. His PhD research is greatly funded by the Department for the Economy (Northern Ireland). His thesis explores the 'Rise and Fall of Thatcher's Poll Tax'. He holds a BA in History and Sociology, and a MSc in International Public Policy both at QUB. He is an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Authority and recently co-organised the conference: Opposition to Thatcher an interdisciplinary Conference' alongside Ciara Nicholson. He has an article currently under review with The Modern British History journal regarding Climate change policy under Thatcher and has also Published blogs on the British Association for Local History and The Uncharted Past.

Refreshments, drinks, and snacks will be provided. We look forward to seeing you there!

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