BY MILES MILTON
LONDON — The Socialist Alliance has its first local councillor in England following the May 1 British local government elections. Michael Lavalette won in Preston town centre ward, in Lancashire, with 546 votes (38%), trouncing the Labour candidate by 106 votes (and 31% of the vote).
National secretary of the Socialist Alliance in England and Wales Rob Hoveman described it as "an absolutely brilliant result". The Socialist Alliance stood 161 candidates in the local elections in England, 50% more candidates than in the last local government elections. The overall percentage of the vote won by Socialist Alliance candidates was "well up on last year's vote", Hoveman said.
Hoveman added: "We have also had some other outstanding results with Gordon Rowntree in Middlesbrough getting 21% of the vote and coming just 100 votes behind the winning Labour candidate, Sue Wild in Barnsley with 17.7% and coming second, Urfan Akhtar in Telford with 14% again coming second and Andy Newman with 13% in Swindon.
"This astonishing victory emphasises the gap that has opened up between New Labour and ordinary people. It shows that there continues to be a strong anti-war sentiment in working-class communities. And it also shows there is room in Britain for an activist, engaged, internationalist socialism which can challenge the Labour government on the streets, in the movements against war and oppression, and at the polls", Lavalette declared following his win.
"The slogans of our campaign show the clear difference between us and New Labour. They are for warfare, we are for welfare; they are for racism, division and the scapegoating of asylum seekers; we are for unity in the fight against racism and oppression. They are for imperialism; we are for solidarity and internationalism. They are for big business and the interests of multinationals; we are for putting people before profit."
Lavalette is a high-profile local activist and resident, having lived in the area for 12 years. He is coordinator of the very active Preston chapter of the Stop the War Coalition. The coalition organised the biggest meeting in Preston for years, attended by more than 600 people, the week war started. Lavalette also pointed to the strong links with Preston's Asian and Muslim communities that developed during the course of the anti-war campaign as another reason the Socialist Alliance did so well.
Mainstream press coverage concentrated on the gains of the neo-Nazi British National Party in the English council polls. The BNP won eight councillors in Burnley (also in Lancashire), five more than last year. But the racists lost out in seats contested by the Socialist Alliance, challenging the idea that a socialist candidate would split the anti-Nazi vote.
The BNP stood a total of 221 candidates across England, just a small percentage of the 12,000 contested council wards.
In Scotland, the BNP thugs' electoral challenge consisted of one pathetic council candidate and one Scottish parliament candidate on the Glasgow list. The BNP was outpolled by the Scottish Socialist Party in the Auchinleck council ward, just one of the 320 council wards where the SSP stood candidates. The SSP won two council positions in Glasgow, and got the second-highest vote in 25% of the wards.
The Glasgow parliamentary BNP candidate received just 1% of the vote, trounced by the SSP, which had two members of parliament elected from the Glasgow area. As the May 9 Scottish Socialist Voice noted: "The SSP has knocked the legs out from under the Hitler-worshipping BNP's attempt to establish itself as a respectable alternative to New Labour in Scotland. The Socialist Alliance holds the potential to play that role in England."
[For an account of Lavalette's election campaign, visit <http://www.socialistalliance.net>.]
From Green Left Weekly, May 21, 2003.
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