Region, who had been a leader of Labour in the Harlow Council and resigned from the party because of the war in Iraq, introduced the discussion.
He pointed out that Respect obtained its best results where we were able to penetrate networks of people such as the Muslim working class population. In Luton this helped us win 6% of the votes. However we failed to establish links with the trade unions in the region.
Our road show day proved to be very good for raising Respect's profile and it visited several towns in the region.
There were informative reports from the Respect branches. Harlow (1.88% of votes) conducted a high profile campaign.
It had stalls in the High Street on most Saturdays and received good press coverage. The branch succeeded in establishing links with networks of 40-50 people. Students were active in the campaign.
Cambridge was involved in the anti-war movement and had contact with the CWU.
Watford received 2.4% of the
Respect have For been actively involved in the Coalition (STWC). We have established links with the Muslim community and distributed leaflets outside the mosques and made contact with the RMT. We held public meetings in Southend and Basildon.
Ipswich members of Respect are involved in the STWC. The local branch of the GMB is opposed to donating funds from the union to the Labour Party.
During the discussion the need to maintain the contacts we have made, further increase our growing membership and build up the branches from the grass roots was stressed.
There was a tendency during the discussion to concentrate on the electoral prospects of Respect. However the need to involve it in local as well as national issues affecting working people and build up a campaigning party was pointed out.
The question of the future position of Respect evolving into a party was posed.
A regional committee to coordinate activities in the region was set up.