06.03.1997

‘No mistake to stand’

Wirral South SLP candidate Mick Cullen gave the Weekly Worker his views on the campaign

“We started off thinking we could get a good vote, but by the last couple of weeks we knew it would be bad. On the doorstep it was the same thing: people just wanted to get the Tories out.

“People were telling us, ‘I agree with what you’re saying; I’ve got no argument with you, but I’d vote for a monkey to get them people out.’

“Another thing was we got no coverage from the media. But, as I said at our election rally, I’m not surprised by that. The dockers have had no coverage for the last 18 months.

“The lads came over from Liverpool and Salford, and last Thursday Anne Scargill came over from Yorkshire, but, to be honest, I was disappointed in the support from SLP members. If I could change the way we ran the campaign, we would have done a lot more canvassing, instead of putting out so many leaflets. But, there again, we never had the bodies.

“The Labour Party poured resources into the campaign. Some people say they exceeded their election expenses by more than double. On polling day they had 200 on the knocker and 150 Labour MPs took part over the last month. But they wouldn’t let the leader of the Labour council canvass because he was tattooed.

“I don’t think it was a mistake to stand. By virtue of the fact that we contested South Wirral we highlighted the SLP - maybe we put out more leaflets than any of the other parties. I know some of them will have got to Birkenhead, where Alec McFadden will be standing against Frank Field in the general election.

“In Birkenhead it will be a different kettle of fish. It is a rock solid Labour seat and the Liberal Democrats came second there last time. So it won’t be a question of ‘Get the Tories out’. There are a lot of single parent families in the constituency and high unemployment, but Frank Field has referred to the young unemployed as the ‘new barbarians’”.