Stoke Abbey Green: BNP Sneaks In

Phil Burton-Cartledge

Campaigning on the doorsteps of Stoke’s Abbey Green ward most Socialist Party members were of the opinion that this would be a two-horse race. I personally lost count of the number of times I told voters this was a straight fight between our sitting councillor, the SP’s Paul Sutton, and Graham Wallace of Labour. I thought the ground was reasonably safe for such an approach: the BNP’s vote in the previous election had declined to 653 votes (25%) from a high two years before of 782 (32%), and took their near invisibility in the ward to mean they were concentrating in the Longton “heartlands”. It therefore came as a shock to find the BNP had taken our seat.

Given the high hopes we had of retaining the seat, why did we lose and how did the BNP sneak in? Addressing the first point, the SP was the only party to have systematically worked the ward during the campaign. We issued four thematically linked leaflets that explained our politics and replied to Labour’s clumsy attacks and the BNP’s racist drivel. We had almost daily stalls out by the local Kwik Save and barely did a day go by when a canvassing team was not active – even Easter Sunday saw members pounding the streets! The BNP on the other hand canvassed the ward once one Saturday evening, while the other parties were content to just put a leaflet out. While our hard work did not pay off in terms of keeping our seat we can be proud of the fact our support increased from 312 (11.8%) in 2004 to 508 votes (17%) this time round.

In terms of our campaign only two real criticisms can be made. First, a visiting comrade who joined us mid-way through the campaign pointed out our canvassing system could have been tightened up. For example we made no distinction between our ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ supporters on our returns, which would have assisted us when we went to follow up all our ‘definites’. The second is the bane of every socialist election campaign: not enough canvassers. Stoke Socialist Party is a good-sized branch but even we needed assistance from outside because a lot of comrades could only devote a small amount of time to campaigning. This was exacerbated by the time and energy our leading role in the local NHS Save Our Staff campaign demanded of us. The challenge for our branch then is to recruit and integrate our healthy contact list as soon as possible if we are to build on this result.

Turning to the reasons why the BNP won a number of factors are immediately visible comparing the results below with those from 2004:

Abbey Green Election Results

2004 2006
BNP 653 (24.8%) 744 Elected (24.9%)
Conservative 594 (22.5%) 424 (14.2%)
Independent - 363 (12.1%)
Labour 1,076 (40.8%) Elected 613 (20.5%)
Liberal Democrats - 334 (11.2%)
Socialist Alternative 312 (11.8%) 508 (17%)
Turnout 2,635 (29.7%) 2,986 (33.7%)

(Fractions rounded to nearest decimal place).
The first obvious feature of the 2006 election is the appearance of both the LibDems and the Independent. It was noted in my previous article on Abbey Green that the refusal of Stan Lees (Ind) to stand aside (despite having a vague leftish platform) would impact on our vote. There is no way of telling how many of his votes would have come the SP’s way but I am convinced it would have been a good proportion of them. This may be true to a lesser extent of the LibDems: its undeserved national reputation as an alternative to Tory/New Labour Tweedle-Dum-Tweedle-Dee politics saw them scoop up a credible number of soft votes (I say soft as their supporters on the door were very few and far between).

The second observation is the complete collapse in Labour’s vote. No doubt the presence of a socialist alternative played its part here: our canvassing teams came across hundreds who pledged never to vote Labour again, upto and including elderly life-long supporters. That Labour saw us as the main threat is borne out by their devoting two leaflets to Paul Sutton and our party, and nothing to the BNP. The recent behaviour of the government combined with the scaremongering over foreign criminals certainly helped depress their result in the far right’s favour, but the single most significant factor I found among former Labour voters was their choice of candidate. Graham Wallace managed to cultivate a reputation as a do-nothing councillor who carefully accumulated a hefty income by getting himself placed on a record number of council committees during his previous tenure. Unsurprisingly when it came to the count the Labour team were whingeing that it was the SP who had let the fascists in, when in fact the real culprit stares back at them every time they look in a mirror. Also worthy of note is the partial collapse of the Tory vote. I assume “Dave” Cameron’s Blair-lite makeovers of the Conservatives saw some of its little Englander base in the Abbey switch their support to the fascists.

Judging by his reaction at the count, it seems no one was more surprised than the BNP candidate himself! It will make our job more difficult in the ward from now on but there are some consolations and lessons we can take from the result. In the first place their man Neil Walker doesn’t live in the ward and was to all intents and purposes a paper candidate. I gather that as a small business owner he will not have the time to be an effective councillor. In this he follows the fine precedents set by Stoke’s two existent BNP councillors, whose non-attendance record is second to none. The second consolation we can take is the widespread alienation from the main parties: just under half voted for anti-establishment candidates. This is not to say a BNP councillor is preferable to a New Labour one, regardless of how wretched the latter is. But it is does indicate a sizeable proportion of the electorate is casting around for political alternatives. Without wanting to sound complacent the silver lining in the BNP cloud is it looks like they’re hitting their maximum level of support in the Abbey: the numbers voting for them went up but as a proportion of the vote they could only manage a .1% increase. Socialist Alternative on the other hand increased its support in numbers and share of the vote. Providing we continue campaigning there’s no reason why we cannot overtake them in future.

A further point to note was the complete ineffectiveness of the Searchlight tabloid that went out. Filled with pious BNP-are-Nazi sermons and hard hitting features on the England football team and a successful Asian businessman, I would not be surprised if its ‘vote hope, not hate’ message associated our campaign with the establishment parties in some resident’s eyes.

The task we now face in Abbey Green is a long one. We will be using our campaign experience to implant ourselves further in the community through a variety of planned activities and consistent work. As the only party with a street presence in the Abbey we are at an advantage already, and we have every confidence of not only returning Paul to the council chamber next year but also turning the Abbey into a true stronghold for independent working class politics.

 

 

May 2006

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