Opportunity for Socialist Advance in Stoke

Phil Burton-Cartledge

Socialists fighting to build an alternative to the left of Labour received a small boost on March 3rd when The Socialist announced two Stoke Labour councillors, Paul and Dave Sutton, had joined the Socialist
Party. As a member of the same branch I’ve been asked to provide some background to this development and the likelihood of successfully defending Paul’s seat in this year’s local elections, for the benefit of SUN readers.

Stoke’s Labour-led council has long been governed by three key Blairite principles: power, position, and
profit. Unlike the majority of the council’s Labour group, the Sutton brothers believe the dangerous idea that a councillor’s job is to represent the interests of those who vote them in. So when Paul and Dave refused to support the council’s latest round of attacks on the city’s workers and named those in the Labour group responsible for cooking them up, the party moved against them. As Paul Sutton is facing re-election this May Labour suddenly found a more “suitable” candidate, and deselected him.

Simultaneously their media machine has unsuccessfully portrayed the Sutton’s resignation as a personal spat devoid of political content.

So why did the Suttons decide to join the Socialist Party? Naturally there’s the issue of our policies and
values that hold more in common with Labour’s left than that wing does with right-wing old Labour and
Blairism. Also another significant factor is our launch of the Campaign for a New Worker’s Party: judging by the latest list of names (The Socialist 9 March) it has gained support from a small but significant layer of trade unionists and socialists outside of the SP’s ranks.

And then there is the track record of the local party, particularly in Abbey Green – the ward where the Suttons live. Like elsewhere in the city the Abbey has been blighted by the collapse of Stoke’s mining,
potteries, and manufacturing industries. Some 60% of residents rely on benefits of one type or another
and will be hit hard by further attacks on council services. Furthermore poverty and alienation made it
in the past fertile territory for the BNP. For example in 2003 when the SP stood for the first time in the
ward (ironically against Paul Sutton) it polled just 61 votes (3%) as against the BNP’s 782 votes (32%) –
just 60 votes shy of Labour! However this enabled the SP to build a small base in the ward, from where
in 2004 it was able to increase its vote to 312 (12%) whereas the BNP declined to 653 (25%). And now in 2006 it looks like the fascists might be concentrating resources elsewhere and not even field a candidate. Chances are if the SP had taken the advice of not standing against the BNP when they are
fielding a strong challenge and concentrated on ‘don't vote Nazi’ material, the BNP's presence in the Abbey would likely have strengthened along with its support elsewhere in Stoke, and it’s doubtful the Sutton brothers would have joined us.

What are the chances of the SP retaining Paul’s seat? Without wanting to sound overly optimistic they are very good. As discussed above the SP does already have support in the ward. A good proportion of our local membership lives there (thanks to previous campaigning) and regular door-to-door sales take
place weekly. The Suttons themselves have deep roots in the area. Both are well known for their consistent political and voluntary work as well as having lived there all their lives. Furthermore 4,000 leaflets have been delivered outlining the reasons for their joining the SP.

Other factors to take into consideration are the intentions of the opposing parties. The Abbey contest is low down on the BNP’s priorities and looks unlikely to stand at the time of writing. Last time the LibDems gave the seat a miss and they too may prefer campaigning elsewhere. But we will be in
competition with an independent standing on an anti-cuts ticket. Paul has attempted to persuade him
otherwise owing to the proximity of our positions, but the independent has a reputation for pig-headedness, which on this occasion he’s determined to live up to. He could make a dent into our vote,
but our advantage of a sitting councillor plus greater activist and material resources hopefully means
this challenge will not cost the seat.

It goes without saying Stoke SP faces a heavy workload in the coming campaign but if we put the work
in we can sink deep roots in one of Stoke’s most deprived wards. This is the kind of solid base we need
from where challenges in other parts of the city can be launched in the years ahead.

 

April 2006

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