Socialist Students contingent on 15 November free education demo in London, photo Mary Finch, photo Mary Finch

Socialist Students contingent on 15 November free education demo in London, photo Mary Finch, photo Mary Finch   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

LJMU Socialist Students

Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) Socialist Students member David Hitchmough topped the poll for National Union of Students (NUS) conference delegates, winning 121 first preference votes ahead of two-dozen other candidates.

David says: “It’s fantastic to be elected as NUS delegate for the second time! To achieve the highest number of votes this year, a year which has seen the largest number of votes cast overall and 24 candidates running, is a big achievement and shows that students are connecting with socialism.

“We distributed hundreds of leaflets, put up dozens of posters, and were in this election as throughout the year, the only actively campaigning group on campus.”

We had hoped the newly formed Labour Students society at LJMU would support David, as they portray themselves as Corbyn supporters.

We were willing to run a broader ‘left’ campaign alongside others, and when David proposed this to a meeting of Labour society members this was agreed.

However, a Blairite clique within the society then stood a candidate against us anyway, and when manifestos were published another two candidates also declared themselves to be Labour Party members. The left in the Labour society should draw the appropriate conclusions.

Our leaflet outlined our demands: “Education should be free. All students should receive grants which are sufficient to live on.

“Students should not suffer crippling debts! I stand for a democratic campaigning student union, which fights for all students.

“I stand for affordable rents for all students, including caps on what halls and landlords can charge.

“I support Jeremy Corbyn and I want to see him as prime minister. Elect me to support Jeremy Corbyn at NUS conference.”

LJMU Socialist Students will continue to campaign on these policies, and step up our campaign stalls and recruitment.

Next term we will be taking initiatives in the run-up to NUS conference and the policies David will be putting forward.

We urge everyone who voted for David to get actively involved in the society and help us build a strong socialist force across the campuses.