AFTER an extremely hard fought and well organised campaign Respect's Jerry Hicks came second in the only seat we contested in Bristol -Lockleaze ward in the north of the city.
Polling 679 votes we pushed Labour into third place (554) and even on a higher turn out than last time round the Liberal vote was slightly down. We managed six mass leafletings including a four page colour tabloid which received a very positive reaction on the doorstep.
And finally we completed 3 canvases of the ward, including a final mass canvas on the Sunday before the election, with over 50 people taking part.
Lockleaze is a big ward which has at its heart a large council estate.
The estate has in recent years had its secondary school closed down: its day centre threatened with closure and only saved by a very vocal campaign; and the funding to one of the few facilities for young people threatened with withdrawal.
The Lib Dem council in Bristol gave us plenty of ammunition for discussions on the doorstep.
The Respect campaign kicked off with a public meeting held in the local community association building with both Jerry Hicks and George Galloway on the platform, chaired by a local resident who had become involved in Respect after a conversation with Jerry in the street.
A number of other local residents became actively involved in the campaign, and far from the voter apathy constantly sited in relationship to largely white working class areas, we found that people were eager to discuss the issues and were pleased that Respect were bothering to fight for Lockleaze. We will build on this support and interest.
This is the first time that Respect has stood in local elections in Bristol. We decided to fight only in one ward and to concentrate all of our resources there - this has proven to be a very successful strategy.
We were lucky to have had such an excellent candidate in Jerry Hicks - already well known and respected in the area as a result of his involvement in the Rolls Royce dispute the previous summer.
Respect are now the official opposition in Lockleaze, we gained a lot of very positive publicity from this election as well as some new members both in the area and from "old lefties' in Bristol who were drawn into the excitement of the campaign.
Bristol has just elected its first Green councillor; next time round we will have Respect in the Council House too!
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triggers a landslide in Sparkbrook Bob Whitehead The tront page the Birmingham Evening Mail featured a large picture of a smiling Salma Yaqoob after her landslide Salma displayed a
large Respect rosette and so the possibility of a left
3NP NOT ASCISTS Unite (
NO NO FASCISTS The Birmingham campaign faced up to challenge from far right
to get the odd mention.
It was only with the growing and then actual success in
Sparkbrook that they had to
take notice. In the end, Salma
got 49 per cent of the vote UNISON
COME HERE
Uni FASCI, FA COUNCI
generally good, focussed on
local and Council issues and
was well distributed. On the
doorstep, the Big Brother
issue did not come up, but it is
tempting to think how things George Galloway's famous election victory has been followed up