RESPECT's campaign for the EuroElections has lifted off in the biggest, and perhaps most difficult of the English constituencies, the giant "South East" region, reaching from Milton Keynes to the Isle of Wight, and from Banbury to Ramsgate, with 4 million homes and 6 million population.
The region covers seven whole counties plus part of Surrey and the Isle of Wight, and one problem at the outset was that despite relatively strong groups on the south coast, there were large areas in which there were few if any organised Respect supporters in most of the major inland towns and cities.
However a Regional Committee has been established to coordinate the effort, an initial £14,000 raised in addition to the €5,000 deposit for a full slate of candidates, and meetings are being held to set up Respect branches in Aylesbury, Banbury, Slough, Reading and Maidenhead. Already it is clear that Respect is finding wider support than previous Socialist Alliance campaigns.
In Oxford a fund-raising 'bands night' at the Zodiac Club raised a welcome £200 and drew in a number of school students to support the campaign.