How did the proletarian vanguard do?
In addition to Respect, SSP and TUSC, there are a number of other left candidates worth watching. In Wales, Blaenau Voice grew out of a left wing split in the Labour Party and won the seat of Blaenau Gwent in the general election and a subsequent by-election.
In Walsall, the Democratic Labour Party, a left wing split from the local Labour Party during the 1990s are standing their sole councillor, Peter Smith, in Walsall North.
In Lewisham, the Lewisham People before Profit campaign, a local anti cuts coalition,are standing a slate of candidates in the local elections with George Hallam contesting Lewisham East.
Eamonn McCann of the SWP is contesting Foyle also as ‘People Before Profit’, a campaign in Ireland indistinguishable from an SWP front.
The Alliance for Green Socialism are contesting six seats mainly in Yorkshire.
The Communist Party of Britain are contesting six seats and are not expected to do well, while there is the usual bunch of the ‘57 varieties’ of left wing parties with the Alliance for Workers Liberty, Workers Power, Communist League, Workers Revolutionary Party, Socialist Equality Party and the ‘Direct Democracy (Communist) Party’, all contesting a few seats and expected to do dismally.
Arthur Scargill’s Socialist Labour Party has long been a sectarian force on the left but the Scargill name still has some voter resonance, as does the party name. Despite having no activist base, the SLP has somehow managed to put forward 23 candidates, though the promise that TV star Ricky Tomlinson would contest a Liverpool seat against a New Labour carpetbagger failed to materialise. While most candidates will do poorly, former Birmingham Labour councillor John Tyrrell is worth watching out for in Birmingham Perry Barr. Bizarrely the SLP is standing against Blaenau Voice and in the strongly student based seat of Manchester Central against prominent Green Left activist Gayle O’Donovan, the Socialist Equality Party and the WRP!
|
Seat |
Name |
Group |
Vote & % |
|
Blaenau Gwent |
Alyson O’Connell |
SLP |
381 votes – 1.2% |
|
Barnsley |
Terry Robinson |
SLP |
356 – 1.0% |
|
Cardiff South and Penarth |
Robert Griffiths |
Communist Party of Britain |
196 - 0.4% |
|
Derbyshire South |
Paul Liversuch |
SLP |
266 – 0.5% |
|
Glasgow North West |
Marc Livingstone |
Communist Party of Britain |
179 – 0.5% |
|
Luton South |
|
WRP |
75 votes – 0.2% |
|
Leeds East |
Michael Davies |
Alliance for Green Socialism |
429 – 1.1% |
|
Leicester East |
|
Unity for Peace & Socialism |
494 votes – 1.0% |
|
Walsall North |
Peter Smith |
Dem Lab Party |
842 - 2.3% |
|
Leeds North East |
|
Alliance for Green Socialism |
596 votes 1.3% |
|
Sheffield South East |
|
Communist Party of Britain |
139 votes – 0.3% |
|
Devon North |
|
CPB |
96 votes 0.2% |
|
St Helens North |
|
SLP |
483 votes 1.1% |
|
Leeds North West |
|
Alliance for Green Socialism |
121 votes 0.3% |
|
Birmingham Perry Barr |
|
SLP |
527 – 1.3% |
|
Liverpool West Derby |
|
SLP |
614 – 1.7% |
|
Vauxhall |
|
Socialist Party of Great Britain |
143 votes 0.3%
109 votes 0.3% |
|
Lewisham East |
|
Lewisham People Before Profit |
332 votes 0.8% |
Liam redux 
Leave a comment