Outside London Respect contested 28 wards of varying sizes, with 5 each in Birmingham and Preston, 2 in Walsall, and the other 16 all in different councils.
The 28 Respect candidates outside London achieved 16,019 votes, representing an average vote of 16.4%.
In Birmingham the average vote was 21.5%, while in Preston it was 27.0%.
The average vote of the 18 candidates outside London, Preston and Birmingham was at 11.5%.
Only three candidates achieved less than 5% (and one of these was in Birmingham), and there were several results at 20% +, and a good number between 1020%. Respect's success has barely been mentioned in the mainsurcamn press.
There is a contradictory element to some of the results. The twelve councillors in Tower Hamlets are all Bangladeshi. This means that the council group is not fully representative of the ethnic ana pontical diversity either the borough or Respect in Tower Hamlets.
Many of the councillors are politically untested and few of them have experience of socialist organisations other then Respect.
Sections of Respect's leadership have been very reluctant to adopt rudimentary Labour Movement proce dures for the accountability of elected officials. The councillors will be able to cite the precedent that George Galloway has set whenever they are asked to report to the local organisation. The leadership's assertion that