11.03.2004

Backing for Page in GLA seat

Lewisham and Greenwich Respect

Meeting on March 4, the inaugural meeting of the Lewisham and Greenwich branch decided not to select a candidate for the GLA constituency. Socialist Party local councillor Ian Page intends to contest the seat and national discussions are taking place aimed at giving comrade Page a clear run in return for SP backing for Respect elsewhere in London and for the PR list.

The well attended meeting of around 60 people witnessed a rare sight - SWP comrades falling over themselves to be nice about the SP. Local SWPer Andy Reid, who chaired the meeting, said he “can’t think of any SP policies I disagree with. We might have our differences, but they are not differences of principle.”

This was quite a contrast to recent SWP behaviour in Lewisham, where the organisation initially looked set to back an education campaigner against SP candidate Chris Flood in the December 2003 Telegraph Hill by-election. In the end the SWP pulled back from such an openly sectarian move and instead sat on the sidelines, while the SP - backed by most non-SWP Socialist Alliance comrades - waged an enthusiastic campaign which ended successfully with the election of a second socialist councillor to sit alongside comrade Page.

The SP was invited to attend the meeting as observers and a small number did so. It seems that George Galloway has prevailed upon the SWP to come to an arrangement, but it is a welcome development for all that.