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Socialist Party increases vote in English local elections
www.socialistworld.net, 03/05/2002
website of the committee for a workers' international, CWI
Local authority elections took place in most parts of England on 2 May. We contested 30 seats. In general our votes increased [see table below]. By comparison, we received more than double the average Socialist Alliance vote.
Hannah Sell, London
Nonetheless, our votes did not reflect the enthusiastic support we received from thousands of people on the doorsteps. A far better expression of our support is reflected by the increased numbers of papers sold during the election. However, the predominant attitude to the elections was a feeling of "what’s the point of voting they’re all the same anyway?" We can only overcome this to a limited extent; many who were supportive of our candidates could not be convinced to go and vote! The national turnout in the election was marginally higher than last year but still only one third of people bothered to vote.
However, where we have candidates who have led local campaigns, and are known as being ‘different’ to mainstream politicians, we received extremely good votes. In Lewisham, the boundaries of Ian Page and Sam Dias’s ward had been altered, bringing 2,000 extra voters into our area. New Labour ran an extremely dirty campaign. Nonetheless, Ian was re-elected with 1065 votes (300 more than his previous highest vote). Sam received 922 votes (almost double the vote on which she was elected) but was unfortunately just 50 votes short of holding her seat. However, a local education campaign, which stood on a slate with us, was elected. On the morning of the election Sam collected £40 FF from local shopkeepers supporting our candidates. In Coventry, Dave Nellist held his seat in Coventry St Michaels, with a majority of 400 votes. We got an average of 12% of the vote in the seven other Coventry seats we contested. Pete Glover, in Bootle, Merseyside, received 822 votes (30%).
3 May 2002
|
Seat |
Candidate |
Vote |
Percentage |
|
Newcastle Byker |
Bill Hopwood |
303 |
20% |
|
Hull Southcoates |
Keith Ellis |
59 |
5.9% |
|
Doncaster Thorne |
Mary Jackson |
N/A |
|
|
Rotherham Aston |
Paul Marshall |
225 |
8.1% |
|
Sheffield Manor |
Alistair Tice |
101 |
4.4% |
|
Huddersfield Newsome |
Dylan Murphy |
107 |
|
|
Wakefield East |
Mick Griffiths |
252 |
7.5% |
|
Pontrefact |
John Gill |
134 |
4.9% |
|
Leeds Beeston |
Dave Jones |
261 |
6.7% |
|
Preston Brookfield |
Councillor Paul Malliband |
272 |
19.85% |
|
Merseyside Bootle |
Pete Glover |
822 |
32% |
|
Birmingham Northfield |
Louise Holdey |
252 |
5% |
|
Coventry St Michaels |
Councillor Dave Nellist * |
1417 |
52.8% |
|
Fosehill |
Jim Hensman |
213 |
5.% |
|
Longford |
Martin Reynolds |
243 |
8% |
|
Whoberley |
Mark Power |
450 |
12% |
|
Westwood |
Ella Manley |
364 |
13.2% |
|
Binley/Wilenhall |
Becky Tustain |
293 |
8.3% |
|
Henley |
Martha Young |
381 |
14.3% |
|
Lower Stoke |
Jane Ashwell |
397 |
12.7% |
|
Stevenage Bedwell |
Steve Glennon |
116 |
4.7% |
|
Lewisham Telgraph Hill |
Councillor Ian Page,* Councillor Sam Dias |
1065
922 |
|
|
Walthamstow Markhouse |
Louise Thompson Suzanne Muna Kevin Parslow |
177 172 137 |
7.9% |
|
Hillingdon Pinkwell |
Julia Leonard |
114 |
5% |
|
Hackney Cazenove |
Chris Newby |
155 |
6.9% |
|
Southampton |
Gavin Marsh |
109 |
4% |
|
Bristol Lockleaze |
Roger Thomas |
51 |
1.9% |
|
Bristol Bedminster |
Robin Clapp |
107 |
3.7% |
|
Swindon |
Jean Walker |
||
|
Gloucester |
* = elected
Committee for a Workers' International