As expected, our TUSC result in Swansea West followed a national pattern of being squeezed by the main parties.
Swansea Socialist Party members
Rob Williams on the Visteon protest, photo Alec Thraves
Labour hung onto the seat with a tiny majority of just 504 votes over the Lib Dems. The Green and a centre left ‘Independent’ candidates also picked up a few hundred votes each. The BNP, using its national media profile, secured 910 votes and more disturbingly, retained their deposit in neighbouring Swansea East, highlighting the vital need for a new mass workers’ party to act as an alternative to their racist and divisive agenda.
Rob Williams’ 179 votes (0.5%) obviously didn’t reflect the excellent election campaign over the past month which has boosted the profile of TUSC and the Socialist Party.
Several potential members have been picked up during the campaign with thousands of leaflets hand delivered by our large and enthusiastic campaign team.
Our objective was to put a marker down for the future, highlight our socialist alternative and expose the similarities of the main parties, all of which were achieved.
A hung parliament is a confirmation that none of the capitalist parties have a mandate to govern. The need for a mass workers’ party is clear. TUSC has the potential to be the embryo of such a development. This will be particularly posed when whatever government takes over tries to drive through the biggest cuts package in British history.
The jitters on the stock market reflects the nervousness of the capitalist class who will want the working-class in Britain to pay the same price as workers in Greece by what will inevitably be a weak government.
The Socialist Party & TUSC will be on our class’s side in the inevitable struggles to come.
