Elections 2000: Looking for an alternative to Labour

Elections 2000: Looking for an alternative to Labour

NEW LABOUR received a decisive drubbing at last week’s local elections, while the Socialist Party celebrated successes, including the election of a third councillor in Coventry.

All the major parties suffered setbacks. Ken Livingstone’s stand, the performance of socialist candidates and our own party’s results shows an increasing number of voters are looking for a more left-wing alternative to New Labour.

New Labour’s pro big-business policies were emphatically rejected by many of those who had voted for them at the 1997 election. While the Tories and Liberals made some gains, they also suffered defeats; hardly a ringing endorsement given the unpopularity of New Labour.

The Socialist Party now has all three councillors in St Michael’s ward in Coventry. Rob Windsor joined Dave Nellist and Karen McKay on the council after winning 1,182 votes to his Labour rival’s 1,071.

This leaves the party well placed to make a very strong challenge against Labour in the city at the general election.

Throughout England and Wales our candidates got higher numerical and percentage votes than when they last stood in elections.