European Parliament on June 10, together wth 87,000 for the London Assembly and 61,000 votes for the London mayor.
It came through loud and clear in the astonishing
19,000 votes Respect won in the City and East constituency in London. It is spelt out in the fact that Respect topped the poll in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, and it is spelt out in a range of high scoring results in the West and East Midlands and in the North West. Respect won over 7 per cent of the vote across the city of Birmingham.
Respect scored 1.7 per cent of the national vote (over a quarter million) which is double the vote for the SLP in 1999, which still had a resonance at that time.
Of course our vote was polarised within this. It was poor in Wales and the South East. But Respect scored heavily in a number of key inner-city areas with large working class ethnic minority populations. This was especially amongst young Muslims, many of whom are vulnerable to fundamentalist ideas in the absence of a socialist alternative.
Such ethnic minority votes for a left party are unprecedented in British politics. They repre
sent the most important breakthrough into ethnic minority communities. Previously most black and Asian people voted Labour. This change represent a real opportunity for the left to break out of the largely white sections of the population which it has been in for a very long time.
Moreover the Respect won its vote without compro mising its politics. Respect was the only party in the elecBob Whitehead Stop the War Coalition T troops if necessary. concerned? made asylum the most disputed issue in the phone calls into the Respect office throughout the campaign.
Callers would say 1 have just got your leaflet and I agree with you on everything but asylum and immigration - do you really mean what you say on this? Respect lost a lot of votes by this stance. It was absolutely right to do so E immediate withdrawal of foreign troops from qually Respect was the only party calling for the
I Iraq - another constantly raised issue on the phones. Respect was the only genuinely anti-war party in the election. The Greens were for a UN force and the Liberal Democrats were for sending even more So where does this result - winning a good vote on a
There is a Parliamentary by-election pending ir Leicester South which Respect intends to contest and is currently selecting a candidate. Respect polled 9.5 pe cent across the three Parliamentary constituencies in Leicester and is well placed for a good result. 1 year and Respect lami robary be ne. he next general election will probably be next
tion. In preparing for this, this campaign and these results have given us a detailed political map o the country - constituency by constituency - which will allow us to select the places we contest on a much more informed basis than before.
George Galloway is keen to put himself forward for an East London constituency, to start the selection process as soon as possible and, if he is selected, to get to work in the constituency well in advance of the election.
Unlike the Socialist Alliance, Respect now has the real possibility of becoming a party of the broadly the SSP type. This will not happen immediately, but it needs to be the medium term objective. To prepare for this we have to start building Respect along the lines of a party right