Our 2025 local election campaign
- This topic has 38 replies, 7 voices, and was last updated 1 day, 10 hours ago by
.
-
Posts
-
Here are details of our TUSC opponent and his reformist programme. Just a far-fetched proposal that the council defy the government on spending which, when it gets nowhere (except to the councillors being surcharged and the government sending in a commissioner to run the council), SPEW hope will lead those who fall for it to turn to them for leadership in a bid to overthrow the capitalist state (and establish a state capitalist regime). In other words, a typical manipulative Trotskyist “transitional demand”. Or perhaps he is naive enough to believe that what he proposes is realistic.
https://whocanivotefor.co.uk/person/119341/marco-tesei
Here’s is the information the same site provides on our candidate:
Kent & Sussex branch report on Folkestone:
The mainly commercial distribution of our election leaflet to about 18 000 letter boxes is ongoing but we still have an opportunity to put out a second reminder leaflet in some areas preferably those done earlier and/or in the more revolutionary localities.
We are thinking of getting the leaflet promoting our candidate in Stroud adapted for Folkestone and may be able to have some printed ready for delivery on Wednesday, a week before polling day.
More leaflets distributed yesterday in Herne Hill and Loughborough Junction ward. We met the Conservative Party candidate and his canvassers. No sign of the LibDem, Reform or even TUSC.
In fact we’ve nearly finished but will probably have to leave out the mansions at the top of the hill with long drives and two or three 4x4s parked at the end.
Capitalists have to live somewhere and some seem to in Herne Hill (but not Loughborough Junction):
More, from their South London facebook page, of the intervention of Stand Up To Racism in the Herne Hill and Loughborough Junction by-election. Stalls outside both Herne Hill and Loughborough Junction stations.
https://www.facebook.com/SouthLondonSUTR/?locale=en_GB
The older man in the middle of the photo of them all not carrying a placard is the Green Party councillor Scott Ainslie. Presumably he wants people not just to not vote for ReformUK but to vote for his party.
The TUSC candidate in another council by-election, in north London, was not happy with their intervention there:
“Rather than campaigning for a socialist candidate, Stand up to Racism distributed a leaflet simply calling for people ‘not to vote for Reform’, not offering a political alternative to Labour austerity.”
(https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/137874/16-04-2025/labour-collapse-and-socialist-challenge-in-london-by-election/)He has a point. It is all very well saying in an election don’t vote for a particular candidate but, if you don’t want them to be elected, from your own point of view you should offer an alternative candidate to vote for, for instance the candidate most likely to beat them. Councillor Ainslie understood that.
Here is an election statement from our reformist, state-capitalist opponent in Herne Hill and Loughborough Junction:
https://whocanivotefor.co.uk/person/119341/marco-tesei
He doesn’t mention socialism (which is good) but he does claim to be a member of the Socialist Party (which isn’t).
Kent and Sussex report that 2000 copies of a second leaflet, based on the one used in Stroud, have arrived for distribution.
Two of us leafletted a protest demonstration outside Lambeth Town Hall this evening. It was against the Labour-controlled council’s decision to have recourse to no-fault evictions (even though the government has said it is going abolish this). About 30 people there including the Green Party candidate (who spoke to express solidarity) and Green councillor Scott Ainslie. The SWP had a stall. No sign of TUSC/SPEW and their candidate.
Earlier, while distributing leaflets in the ward, we came across the LibDem candidate’s leaflet. It makes one good point:
“Labour ministers cut benefits because they say they can’t be afforded. But then ministers admit they are looking at reducing UK taxes on big US tech companies — because Donald Trump has demanded it.”
No mention of the fact that the Tory-LibDem coalition government in office 2010-2015 also cut benefits — to reduce the burden of taxation on profits in a failed bid to get the profit-driven, capitalist economy expanding again after the Crash of 2008.
As the popular saying has it: Labour, Liberal, Tory, Same Old Boring Story.
Leaflet delivery for the campaign in Stroud is continuing in small batches before the final push this weekend.
The Greens are on their third leaflet drop and I’ve only seen a Labour leaflet otherwise. All the Green material says is that only they have a chance of beating Labour and that the candidate will work really hard for the community – what they will work hard at is not specified.
Reports on a local forum are that in a neighbouring electoral division Reform UK have been active. Someone who tried to reject the Reform leaflet on the doorstep was told by the deliverer to shove it up their arse.
I’ve only encountered a couple people who have said they don’t want the leaflet, and my approach has been to turn up the charm to 11. In fact one guy changed his mind when I told him what it was and said “go on stick through the letter box, I’ll read it later”.
Report from Kent and Sussex branch
The last of our 17,000 leaflets are due to be delivered this week (mix of commercial and member distribution).
We have had a second leaflet printed that is adapted from the one used in Stroud to target the central and Harbour wards where most of our committed supporters live, mostly as a reminder. We’ve ordered 5000 so far which start going out tomorrow by members.
There will be group of local members out Sunday afternoon with nice weather forecast in Folkestone. Any other volunteers welcome (it’s just under an hour from St Pancras on High speed train). If you are interested email spgb.ksrb [at] worldsocialism.org
London branch is holding a street stall outside Herne Hill station from 12.30 today for a couple of Hours.
Successful street stall in Herne Hill earlier today. The candidate was interviewed on video by the Brixtonbuzz, the online local news outlet; conversations with a lone member from Stand Up To Racism handing out their “Don’t Vote for Reform UK” leaflet; the Conservative candidate who was passing by; and someone who thought that all the patients in A&E departments these days don’t talk in English (and who had never heard of Reform UK). We even sold a couple of pamphlets (the two William Morris reprints) even though the pamphlets were mainly there for display and received a donation.
Members distributed about 1400 of our second Folkestone leaflet today, so about 3000 this week. Hopefully most of the remaining 2000 will get done in next 3 days.
The count starts at 10am on Friday.
TUSC have finally made an appearance on Saturday in Herne Herne & Loughborough Junction or, rather, just in Loughborough Junction:
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1063662945798676&id=100064649413665
The photo there was taken on another day outside the ward in a different part of Lambeth. Other photos on the Facebook page of London SPEW are of a literature stall outside a mosque and a photo op outside an evangelical church, presumably indicating the groups they are targetting for votes.
Their manifesto proposes the following:
“Lambeth council should use its borrowing powers and reserves to stop all cuts and instead fund the services that people in Lambeth desperately need. Then they should demand that the Labour government picks up the tab.”
There is no chance of the Labour government doing that of course. In fact the opposite would happen. The government would send in a Commissioner to run the council and balance the budget, including cuts to services and amenities.
This is what happened the last time this was tried, in 1984 when Trotskyist Ted Knight was the Leader of Lambeth Council. He and 31 other councillors were “surcharged” (made to pick up the tab themselves), kicked off the council and banned for 5 years from being a councillor.
That this is, at least as far as SPEW’s leaders are concerned, just a traditional Trotskyist “transitional demand” is hinted at in the manifesto:
“Lambeth has lost £200 million in funding since 2010. Let’s build a mass campaign of trade unions, community campaigns and local people to win that funding back! If our councillors aren’t willing to lead that campaign, then they should step aside for those who will.”
Trotskyist textbook stuff: Raise an impossible demand; when it fails, lead in a different direction those who were duped into struggling for it. In any event, seek to be leaders.
But, as we have always advised workers, tell leaders to get lost and organise things yourselves.
Merton Stand Up To Racism (from a neighbouring borough) show that they have been leafletting door to door in parts of Herne Hill:
Actually, people living in Milton Road will have been aware that there is a by-election as that street had already been leafleted by Labour, the Greens and us. But still a contribution to the political debate sparked by the by-election.
Leaflet delivery in Stroud Central Division for the Gloucestershire County Council election on May 1st is complete with around 4700 delivered.
The Greens have delivered their 4th leaflet (a rather cheesy fake postcard-from-a-friend implying that everyone else is on the bandwagon and we should be too). Labour are on one leaflet; Tories, TUSC and Liberals don’t seem to have bothered.
I met the Reform UK candidate and his election agent whilst out delivering at the weekend, not sure if they have leafleted everywhere.
I’ve had some interesting conversations on the street, by email and phone calls and the leaflet has led a quite few people to this website.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.