After the Election – where now for Respect?
After the Election - whre now for Respect? A letter to Respect Party members from the National Secretary
Dear Comrades,
On Saturday 21st May the Respect Party’s National Council met to discuss the prospects for Respect after the recent set of elections At the meeting we started a discussion but we now hope will now continue with a debate throughout the party and with our many supporters over the coming months.
Electoral politics is a tough game and there is no hiding from results. The reality of our results on May 5th was that we had a very disappointing night.
It appears clear now, with the exception of Tower Hamlets with its peculiar local circumstances, that the electoral space that we have sought to occupy in recent years has been closing since the final few weeks of the 2010 General Election campaign. As voters were faced with a stark choice between Labour and Tory governments most working people – many of whom had spent the previous few years disillusioned with Blair and then Brown - returned to the Labour fold. With the ConDems in power, and viciously cutting essential public services, that process has continued – and is likely to accelerate as the cuts begin to bite.
In Respect, we may have hoped to have picked up disillusioned Lib-Dem voters in some areas – but the reality is that for a number for reasons we didn’t. In most places our votes were declining or very small indeed – despite having hardworking and respect candidates and positive campaigns getting a good response on the doorstep. Sadly those positive responses did not translate into votes. It may be tempting to think that had we worked harder or campaigning in a different way the outcomes may have been different but the reality is that respect was swimming against the over-whelming current of a national trend which we are simply too small to overcome at the present time.
In Birmingham Sparkbrook the mass return to Labour was enough to swamp even the excellent vote of our well-respected and excellent local councillor Mohammed Ishtiaq. With 3,413 votes he was only 100 short of the total that saw him elected in 2007 but that was not enough to prevent Labour taking the council seat.
Even in Glasgow where George Galloway received lots of promising signals we were unable to cross the 5% threshold and get into the Parliament. It was nice to beat the LibDems in the city but beating the LibDems is no longer a significant achievement these days (the LibDem collapse being was one of the very positive outcomes of election night.)
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all our candidates, their agents and our campaign teams for their hard work during the elections. Once again we proved that Respect members and supporters can never be faulted for their commitment and energy.
Nonetheless we need to address the issues we face as a small party honestly and move forward together .
At the National Council number of different proposals were made for the future – which I don’t intend to refer to here – but the various proposers will flesh out and put them in writing as part of a national debate to be carried on the website, on this email list and in the pages of the next edition of Respect Quarterly (which we expect to send out in mid-June having extended the deadline for articles). What the NC members present did all agree on was that we didn’t want to risk losing the coherent body of anti-imperialist, anti-racist, pro-investment ideas that have become associated with Respect. We also agreed that carrying on as if nothing has changed was not an option.
The next steps:
1. The next issue of the Respect Quarterly will carry articles analysing the election and making suggestions for the way forward. Articles will also be posted on the website. A view from Tower Hamlets written by National Chair Abjol Miah can already be read at http://www.voterespect.org/2011/05/tower-hamlets-needs-respect.html . Responses to these articles will be invited and published where appropriate on the website or in the autumn edition.
2. Respect will hold a series of regional forums for all members and supporters to discuss the way forward. These will be held before the summer where possible. We will publicise these forums when the venue have been booked and the dates arranged. We urge as many member as possible to try and attend these events.
3. The National Council will discuss the outcome from these forums at our next meeting on September 10th . We will then report back to the membership as a whole.
Yours in peace and solidarity
Clive Searle, National Secretary
Neil Williams:
A long overdue debate and better late than never. Respect are right to review their current position and have made a positive step in the right direction which others on the Left should follow. This blog will be posting articles on this issue in the near future. What are your views?
Link: Respect Party
Dear Comrades,
On Saturday 21st May the Respect Party’s National Council met to discuss the prospects for Respect after the recent set of elections At the meeting we started a discussion but we now hope will now continue with a debate throughout the party and with our many supporters over the coming months.
Electoral politics is a tough game and there is no hiding from results. The reality of our results on May 5th was that we had a very disappointing night.
It appears clear now, with the exception of Tower Hamlets with its peculiar local circumstances, that the electoral space that we have sought to occupy in recent years has been closing since the final few weeks of the 2010 General Election campaign. As voters were faced with a stark choice between Labour and Tory governments most working people – many of whom had spent the previous few years disillusioned with Blair and then Brown - returned to the Labour fold. With the ConDems in power, and viciously cutting essential public services, that process has continued – and is likely to accelerate as the cuts begin to bite.
In Respect, we may have hoped to have picked up disillusioned Lib-Dem voters in some areas – but the reality is that for a number for reasons we didn’t. In most places our votes were declining or very small indeed – despite having hardworking and respect candidates and positive campaigns getting a good response on the doorstep. Sadly those positive responses did not translate into votes. It may be tempting to think that had we worked harder or campaigning in a different way the outcomes may have been different but the reality is that respect was swimming against the over-whelming current of a national trend which we are simply too small to overcome at the present time.
In Birmingham Sparkbrook the mass return to Labour was enough to swamp even the excellent vote of our well-respected and excellent local councillor Mohammed Ishtiaq. With 3,413 votes he was only 100 short of the total that saw him elected in 2007 but that was not enough to prevent Labour taking the council seat.
Even in Glasgow where George Galloway received lots of promising signals we were unable to cross the 5% threshold and get into the Parliament. It was nice to beat the LibDems in the city but beating the LibDems is no longer a significant achievement these days (the LibDem collapse being was one of the very positive outcomes of election night.)
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all our candidates, their agents and our campaign teams for their hard work during the elections. Once again we proved that Respect members and supporters can never be faulted for their commitment and energy.
Nonetheless we need to address the issues we face as a small party honestly and move forward together .
At the National Council number of different proposals were made for the future – which I don’t intend to refer to here – but the various proposers will flesh out and put them in writing as part of a national debate to be carried on the website, on this email list and in the pages of the next edition of Respect Quarterly (which we expect to send out in mid-June having extended the deadline for articles). What the NC members present did all agree on was that we didn’t want to risk losing the coherent body of anti-imperialist, anti-racist, pro-investment ideas that have become associated with Respect. We also agreed that carrying on as if nothing has changed was not an option.
The next steps:
1. The next issue of the Respect Quarterly will carry articles analysing the election and making suggestions for the way forward. Articles will also be posted on the website. A view from Tower Hamlets written by National Chair Abjol Miah can already be read at http://www.voterespect.org/2011/05/tower-hamlets-needs-respect.html . Responses to these articles will be invited and published where appropriate on the website or in the autumn edition.
2. Respect will hold a series of regional forums for all members and supporters to discuss the way forward. These will be held before the summer where possible. We will publicise these forums when the venue have been booked and the dates arranged. We urge as many member as possible to try and attend these events.
3. The National Council will discuss the outcome from these forums at our next meeting on September 10th . We will then report back to the membership as a whole.
Yours in peace and solidarity
Clive Searle, National Secretary
Neil Williams:
A long overdue debate and better late than never. Respect are right to review their current position and have made a positive step in the right direction which others on the Left should follow. This blog will be posting articles on this issue in the near future. What are your views?
Link: Respect Party
Labels: Respect Party
posted by Neil Williams @ 11:29 am
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