After a hard fought battle and nail-biting count, the Socialist Party
regained a third councillor in St Michaels ward, Coventry. The Labour
Party, which had narrowly won the seat two years ago by 16 votes, was
defeated by Rob Windsor – 1191 votes to 1106 – with the Tories and Lib
Dems trailing in the low hundreds.
Lindsey Currie, Coventry
Rob’s record of taking up issues affecting local people – like the
council’s proposal to demolish disabled flats at Swanswell, opposing
plans for a city academy and campaigning against deep cuts in the NHS –
which he continued to fight on even after he lost the seat, has been
recognised. The Socialist Party message of standing for all working-class
people has hit home.
This was in stark contrast to the Labour Party councillor who had only
spoken once at a council meeting in his two years of office. People were
fed up with a do-nothing councillor in a ward that contains areas of deep
social deprivation.
After many weeks going door-to-door, leafleting and street
campaigning, more than 40 local party members were joined by socialists
from the East Midlands and Wales on election day to maximise the vote.
While the establishment parties sent out a couple of cars equipped
with loudspeakers to get their vote out, they could not match the
hands-on, face-to-face approach of the Socialist Party. No other party
had campaign stalls on the streets or monitored voter numbers at the
polling stations.
Throughout the election campaign, in fact, this contrast in styles was
a feature – Labour talking down to people, echoing the government’s
arrogance and complacency.
We had delivered a series of leaflets to the 12,000 voters in the
ward, raising the Labour government’s anti-working class policies and the
war in Iraq, as well as the record of the Tory dominated council,
including one aimed at students.
We also had candidates in four other Coventry seats. And in Exhall,
near Nuneaton, Eileen Hunter stood for the first time, beating the Lib
Dem to third place. The limited resources available were more than
matched by the energy of her campaign, stirring up young and old alike in
this former mining village.
One woman at an election meeting summed up what many felt when she
thanked Eileen for standing – finally, after years of voting Labour,
there was someone offering genuine representation for working-class
people. More than 50 bright pink window posters were on display in the
ward.
Meanwhile, Socialist Party members continue our participation in the
NHS SOS campaign, helping to organise a lobby of a health trust meeting,
visiting and leafleting the Walsgrave and Coventry and Warwickshire
hospitals.
We have taken up the issue of the threat to close the Peugeot Ryton
plant, trying to build on the community support for the workers in the
factory.
Both of these have provoked the anger and outrage of working-class
people in and around the city and will be raised at the Campaign for a
New Workers’ Party (CNWP) public meeting on 20 May.
The addition of the third socialist councillor will strengthen the
voice of the working class in Coventry and add impetus to the growing
support for the CNWP in Coventry.
Result:
Rob Windsor Socialist Party 1,191
Labour 1,106
Lib Dem 248
Conservative 428
