Dave Nellist
DAVE
IS the leader of the Socialist group on Coventry city council.
He is also national chair of the Socialist Alliance.
Dave was MP in the city from 1983 to 1992, when he was
known as a workers' MP on a worker's wage. He took only the
wage of a skilled factory worker, less than half of what other
MPs took for themselves. Standing to be re-elected as
councillor.
Tel: 024 76 525 394
Ian Page
Lewisham
IAN
IS a Lewisham councillor standing for re-election in Telegraph
Hill, Deptford. A councillor for ten years, Ian has been
active in defending services across the borough. He led
opposition to the council's attempt to privatise local council
housing.
He was expelled from the Labour Party in 1995 for opposing
their policy of cuts in council housing services and has since
become the first councillor to be elected for the Socialist
Party in London.
Tel 020 8988 8777
Sam Dias
Lewisham
Education,
Education, Education?
"Labour's
plans to end comprehensive education will hit all working
class families hard, but Black and Asian students will be hit
amongst the worst. Our schools need a massive injection of
public funding, not shortages and selection."
SAM
DIAS, Socialist Party councillor, Lewisham.
Mick Griffiths
Wakefield East
MICK
IS a trade union representative at Pinderfields Hospital,
where he works as a porter. Collecting 20,000 petition
signatures, he spearheaded the long-running campaign for
public funding for the new hospital development, and opposed
the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) proposals.
Mick's efforts to force a Wakefield-wide referendum on
hospital funding led to the Wakefield Express ballot of public
opinion, which rejected PFI's back-door privatisation and
massively supported government funding. Tel 01924 365 795
Peter Glover
Bootle
PETER IS a teacher and stood in the 1997 general election.
He has campaigned against low pay, cuts in the NHS and for a
clean environment for the people of Bootle. Tel 0151 922
6077
Gavin Marsh
Southampton
GAVIN
IS a registered nurse who has been active in local politics
for nearly 20 years. Gavin is currently leading a campaign
against Southampton New Labour council's cuts.
Tel 023 8049 5266
The Socialist Party is providing a
socialist alternative to Labour in 33 council seats in the
forthcoming local elections in England. Four of those
standing will be sitting councillors: Dave Nellist in Coventry;
Ian Page and Sam Dias in Lewisham, south-east London and Paul
Malliband in Preston. Additionally, a Socialist Party candidate
is standing in a by-election in the Marsh-house ward in Teesside
on 16 May.
Our candidates will be standing on a
programme of being for the millions not the millionaires.
We want a system which takes the economy out of the hands
of the rich minority and allows working-class people, through
democratic ownership and control, to plan society to meet the
needs of the majority - not just the privileged few.New Labour
has failed to reach their target of lifting 1.2 million children
out of poverty. 3.9 million children are still poor.
But Britain's super rich have seen their combined wealth
grow to £159.6 billion.
Councillor
Paul Malliband,
defending
Preston Brookfield
Low-paid workers will get a measly 10p an
hour rise in October, taking the minimum wage to just £4.20
(£3.60 for 18-21-year-olds). That's an increase of only
2.4%. Fat cat directors however had an average pay rise of
107% between 1994 and 2001.
Taxes have gone up to pay for spending on
the NHS. But New Labour refuse to increase income tax for
the very rich. Corporation tax for big business is one of
the lowest in industrialised world. £85 billion is lost
to the exchequer every year through tax avoidance by the rich -
nearly twice the annual budget for the health service!
New Labour always put the profits of their
big business friends before the interests of ordinary working
people.
Voting for the Socialist Party will give
people the chance to give a genuine, fighting voice for
working-class people in councils up and down the country.
The full list of candidates is shown
below: All Socialist Party candidates are standing under our
party's registered electoral name of Socialist Alternative.
Seat -- Candidate
Newcastle Byker -- Bill Hopwood
Hull Southcoates -- Keith Ellis
Doncaster Thorne -- Mary Jackson
Rotherham Aston -- Paul Marshall
Sheffield Park -- Terry Wykes
Sheffield Manor -- Alistair Tice
Huddersfield Newsome -- Dylan Murphy
Wakefield East -- Mick Griffiths
Pontrefact -- John Gill
Leeds Beeston -- Dave Jones
Preston Brookfield -- Councillor Paul
Malliband
Merseyside Bootle -- Pete Glover
Birmingham Northfield -- Louise Holdey
Coventry
St Michaels -- Councillor Dave
Nellist
Fosehill -- Jim Hensman
Longford -- Martin Reynolds
Whoberley -- Mark Power
Westwood -- Ella Manley
Binley/Wilenhall -- Becky Tustain
Henley -- Martha Young
Lower Stoke -- Jane Ashwell |
Stevenage Bedwell -- Steve Glennon
Lewisham Telegraph Hill --
Councillor Ian Page, and Councillor Sam Dias
Walthamstow Markhouse -- Louise
Thompson, Suzanne Muna, and Kevin Parslow
Hillingdon Pinkwell -- Julia Leonard
Hackney Cazenove -- Chris Newby
Southampton -- Gavin Marsh
Bristol Lockleaze -- Roger Thomas
Bristol Bedminster -- Robin Clapp
Swindon -- Jean Walker
Further information: contact Ken Smith
on 020 8988 8778
Ken Smith
Press release ends