English Democrats win Town council seat

[JHE]

I don't know about anywhere else but Respect do have elected councillors; Michael Lavellete in the Town Centre ward and Steven Brooks in Tulketh, here in Preston.

Lavalette, an SWPer, was elected as a Socialist Alliance candidate. Brooks, I believe, was elected as a Labour candidate and later defected to Respec'.

So far Respec' has won precisely one council seat. Oliur Rahman won the St Dunstan's and Stepney Green ward in Tower Hamlets in a by-election.

(They are hoping to win more in May - especially in Tower Hamlets.)

 

[Charlie Drake]

Apologies to Butcher's if I'm wrong but I think he means that the EngDems had signed up to something called the English Lobby with the Freedom Party (Mids based ex-BNP) and the Third Way (ex-NF). I read somewhere a while ago that this 'Pressure group' type set up was defunct. I think the EngDems were the main players in this. It may be that they wound it down when they found out about the dodginess of the other two - they do seem at pains to state their anti-fash credentials. But this is only Charlie guessin' mind

 

[liampreston]

Lavalette, an SWPer, was elected as a Socialist Alliance candidate. Brooks, I believe, was elected as a Labour candidate and later defected to Respec'.

So far Respec' has won precisely one council seat. Oliur Rahman won the St Dunstan's and Stepney Green ward in Tower Hamlets in a by-election.

(They are hoping to win more in May - especially in Tower Hamlets.)

Well done that man! Indeed, Michael beat me by a long long big huge margin when I stood for election for the first time all those years ago. His label was "Socialist Alliance - Against The War".

Steven recently fought (and lost) a County Council seat in central Preston. His Tulketh city ward is hyper marginal - a suburban Tory/Labour tussle won by the latter [i.e. him last time round] by less than 50 votes. I don't know if he could win it under his new label given the make up of the ward.

 

[butchersapron]

Apologies to Butcher's if I'm wrong but I think he means that the EngDems had signed up to something called the English Lobby with the Freedom Party (Mids based ex-BNP) and the Third Way (ex-NF). I read somewhere a while ago that this 'Pressure group' type set up was defunct. I think the EngDems were the main players in this. It may be that they wound it down when they found out about the dodginess of the other two - they do seem at pains to state their anti-fash credentials. But this is only Charlie guessin' mind

Yes, thanks Charlie, this grouping was exactly what i wans on about but got bit mixed up due to it being sat night.

 

[Fisher_Gate]

Town councils have a bit more clout than parish councils

No. "Town Council" is a non-specific term, their actual powers depend on their legal status.

In England, such Councils are either "principal" councils, ie a District Council with significant powers eg housing, refuse collection; and in some areas there will also be a shire county council with powers over education and social services etc; in some areas they will be "unitary", with power over most issues.

But the majority of "Town Councils" in England are a "local" council, ie a Parish Council with very minor powers, such as allotments, leisure facilities, and some matters that can be handed over to them with the agreement of the District Council that is responsible for their administration.

In this case, Crowborough Town Council is a PARISH Council with minimal powers; Wealden District Council is the next tier and has significant powers; East Sussex County Council is the upper tier and has responsibility for the largest area of local government.

The term "City Council" is similarly misleading - Preston City Council is a District Council, the majority of Local Government responsibilities are held by Lancashire County Council; whereas Manchester City Council is a "unitary" council (technically "most purpose") with responsibility over most local government services.

 

[Fisher_Gate]

...
Secondly I am by no means a Respect representative, but I can't let someone make a wild claim against them without correcting it for the records. I don't know about anywhere else but Respect do have elected councillors; Michael Lavellete in the Town Centre ward and Steven Brooks in Tulketh, here in Preston. If I stand for the LibDems in Town Centre next year I think I will be up against Michael if he stands again...

...

No Liam, wrong again. You won't be up against Michael - he's not due for election until 2007. You might remember it was 2003 when he defeated you last time - Councillor's terms of office are for four years. However Respect will be fighting the seat and aiming to win it from the sitting Labour councillor, former MP Ron Atkins. The Lib Dems will come a distant third again, as in the words of a million Liberal Focus leaflets "it's a two horse race ...", so you stand a good chance of being the no-hoper they will stand.

 

[Fisher_Gate]

Lavalette, an SWPer, was elected as a Socialist Alliance candidate. Brooks, I believe, was elected as a Labour candidate and later defected to Respec'.

So far Respec' has won precisely one council seat. Oliur Rahman won the St Dunstan's and Stepney Green ward in Tower Hamlets in a by-election.

(They are hoping to win more in May - especially in Tower Hamlets.)

Factually correct. Neither Brooks nor Lavalette are up for election in Preston until 2007, but we will be fighting hard to win a number of seats in 2006.

 

[Fisher_Gate]

Well done that man! Indeed, Michael beat me by a long long big huge margin when I stood for election for the first time all those years ago. His label was "Socialist Alliance - Against The War".

Steven recently fought (and lost) a County Council seat in central Preston. His Tulketh city ward is hyper marginal - a suburban Tory/Labour tussle won by the latter [i.e. him last time round] by less than 50 votes. I don't know if he could win it under his new label given the make up of the ward.

Wrong again. The "last time round" for this seat was actually 2004 when it was won for Labour by Councillor Matthew Brown by 49 votes.

You are correct to say it is historically a hyper marginal Labour/Tory battleground. At one time it was held by Valerie Wise. In addition to Respect Councillor Steven Brookes, the other two councillors for the Tulketh seat are both left wing Labour, who have supported Respect proposals in the Council on occasions in one case attended a Respect public meeting.

Respect will support their re-election and will only contest their seats if they are deselected by Labour (an increasingly common occurence in Preston as the party moves ever rightward). Councillor Jean Al-Seraj is the sitting councillor for the May 2006 election - she supported the twinning of Preston with Nablus in Palestine and has actively opposed the Iraq war. She will be supported by Respect if she is selected by Labour.

 

[liampreston]

Ah, yes, I concede the point. I was thinking of "last time round" to mean his last election, got the context out of kilter.

 

[liampreston]

No Liam, wrong again. You won't be up against Michael - he's not due for election until 2007. You might remember it was 2003 when he defeated you last time - Councillor's terms of office are for four years. However Respect will be fighting the seat and aiming to win it from the sitting Labour councillor, former MP Ron Atkins. The Lib Dems will come a distant third again, as in the words of a million Liberal Focus leaflets "it's a two horse race ...", so you stand a good chance of being the no-hoper they will stand.

Ah well I did say "think", give me that!

On a factual note, while we're at it, I have never - and indeed refused - to use the "two horse race" motif on my leaflets because it would be complete balderdash to do so.

The last electoral leaflet I recieved with such a "only we can win here" graph was, erm, Respect during the 2005 election! All's fair in love and democracy, eh? =)

 

[Fisher_Gate]

Ah well I did say "think", give me that!

On a factual note, while we're at it, I have never - and indeed refused - to use the "two horse race" motif on my leaflets because it would be complete balderdash to do so.

The last electoral leaflet I recieved with such a "only we can win here" graph was, erm, Respect during the 2005 election! All's fair in love and democracy, eh? =)

In the context of the two Preston County Council inner seats where we concentrated almost all our campaigning this was entirely true - Respect came second in both, well ahead of the Lib Dems and Tories. The bar chart that we presented showed the results for those seats last time round - in 2004. As a new party it is perfectly reasonable for us to point out that we are the main challenger to Labour in the inner wards of Preston - not everyone realises that yet. It's different to the Lib Dems perpetually coming third over decades, as they do in my ward, and then pretending they can make a breakthrough.

 

[belboid]

You have established nothing, I am to the right of Ghengis Khan on law and order and to the left of Mother Teresa on welfare.

not difficult as she was a reactionary harridan whose idea of charity was to dump children in massive insanitary and dilapidated building and let god look after them.

Thatcherite scumbag.

 

[likesfish]

I belive crowborugh was the birthplace of the lager lout
where the local MP's gormless son and his public school friends got into a puch up involving some mebers of the TA.
and his dad got up next week and made some comment about how these lager louts should all be doing national service UKLF kept very quiet on that score