Prospects for Son of No2EU?
According to an article published by the AWL, and re-posted at Socialist Unity, the Railway, Martime and Transport workers’ union (RMT) has voted not to support the Socialist Party-Communist Party of Britain-Alliance for Green Socialism lash-up on a national level at the incoming General Election. The AWL article assumes that this means the prospects for the performance of a son of No2EU are poor.
Before one renders judgment, there’s a fair amount of information to gather in – information which the Socialist Party and its erstwhile partners have not published. In how many seats, for example, any Son of No2EU would plan to stand in. Dave Nellist standing for his old seat in Coventry is almost a given, and I hope he wins it. Plus there are other areas where struggles have recently forged new activists and leaders of the working class – which any potential Left electoral coalition should seek to support.
Whether or not that means endorsing some Respect candidates, or some Green Party candidates is irrelevant to the fortunes of No2EU, as I doubt very much if the organisation was planning to stand additional Left challengers in seats such as Brighton Pavillion or in Birmingham. On that basis, I’ll pass on without stating precisely which organisations I would or would not endorse (though it’s well known that my desire to see John McDonnell, Jeremy Corbyn and Katy Clarke re-elected is nigh unconditional).
It is with the re-election of these, and other members of the RMT Parliamentary Group (of Labour MPs), that the RMT is most concerned. However that doesn’t mean that local RMT branches won’t have their say. In Scotland, some may still work with the Scottish Socialist Party. In Wales, some are reported to be working with a rather odd group called Forward Wales. Thus in England, outside of the constituencies like Hayes and Harlington, which Left-Labour MPs are defending, local RMT groups might still back a Son of NO2EU.
Some local RMT branches, such as in Portsmouth, have already decided to stand candidates on the basis of the People’s Charter. Personally I’m all for this; it could lead to powerful local networks of activists, provided it is pursued democratically and with a view to bringing in new people, not just Union full timers and members. In such instances, pulling in support from groups like the FBU shouldn’t be difficult either, and SP should have internal discussions about committing local activists to such campaigns if they live too far away from areas the SP will be contesting.
On the other hand, however, the People’s Charter doesn’t have any concrete national organisation that I can see – and for the purposes of managing the platform and democratic accountability, this makes things difficult. The Son of No2EU idea, as explained by Dave Nellist at the 3rd RMT Conference on the future of working class political representation, was to be federally organised, with decisions taken consensually, as befits what would be a short-lived alliance between different groups, each of which appeals to people to the Left of, and fed up with, Labour.
There was some talk about the creation of a People’s Charter steering committee, to arrange to stand or endorse candidates all around the country, with the idea supposed to go before the RMT national executive, but no news has yet emerged on the subject. This leaves Son of NO2EU in a rather difficult position, ahead of a general election that is not six months away. If it is reduced to its core areas, then it will have little trouble getting local support. Voting for Dave Nellist is pretty uncontroversial in socialist circles.
Yet the ambiguity with what is being done on behalf of the People’s Charter makes moving beyond this strategy a bit risky, and more lilkely to lead to conflict between the groups in question. On the other hand, restriction to the core constituencies reduces the chance of making contact with new votes, which potentially represent new activists.
If there is to be a Son of No2EU, and it decides only to stand in the constituencies the SP would contest anyway, then personally I would prefer if the SP stood under its own name, with smaller partners in support, as part of a broader attempt to shore up and gain working class socialist representation. It at least has a decent profile thanks to its activist work, and the name has socialism in the title. Everywhere else, it would then be free to endorse any candidates standing on behalf of the People’s Charter, as well as the de rigeur endorsement of Left-Labour MPs.
Dave Nellist is not standing in his ‘old seat’ that he represented as a Labour MP – the successor constituency to that is Coventry South, whereas Dave stood in Coventry North East in 2001 and 2005, just saving his deposit with 5.04% of the vote. It would be nice to think he could win the seat, but if he gets to 10% that would be a very impressive vote. The No2EU coalition list, headed by Dave Nellist, won just 4% of the vote across the whole of Coventry in June’s European Parliament election, which was more than double it’s votes across most of the rest of Britain but a long way off being challenger to win a seat.
One of the constituents of the putative Son-of-No2EU coalition, the Alliance for Green Socialism, stood with a pathetic vote in Brighton Pavilion in 2005. If they stand again it would be seen as a deliberate wrecking operation to try to stop Caroline Lucas becoming the first Green MP.
Realistically the only chances of left of Labour MPs in England are the Green candidates in Brighton Pavilion, and possibly Norwich South, and the Respect candidates in Birmingham Hall Green, Poplar & Limehouse, and Bethnal Green & Bow.
Well quite, I was being a little lazy as regards Nellist’s seat because it really has little bearing on the substance of the article.
There are several things which the SP has going for it in Coventry which, while not buoyed by the recent EU elections vote, probably mean they’ll score higher than that rather dismal showing. The local councillors, a higher turnout and so on.
I didn’t know that about the AGS, though if they were going to participate in a Son of No2EU, I can’t imagine the SP or anyone else agreeing to let them challenge Caroline Lucas down there, even though they have differences with the Greens.
As for the realistic chances of MPs to the Left of Labour, I’ll reserve comment on that until I see who gets elected and how they perform in parliament. If they are anything like George Galloway, they’ll simply be an embarrassment to most of the Left.
I don’t understand this “reserve comment” business. In terms of who’s in with a chance of winning, it’s purely a matter of electoral strength. You say you hope Dave Nellist wins … well I hope he does well, but he got no chance whatsoever of winning! On the other hand, Salma Yaqoob, Abjol Miah and George Galloway are in a good position, and at least have the benefit of Respect having been at least second last election. Unless you are thinking the Labour candidate in each of those seats being more left wing ? In which case, you have a great career on the Comedy circuit …
By the way the Socialist Party were sectarian and mad enough to stand against John McDonnell in 2001, hopefully the Son of No2EU will behave a bit more sanely.
Forward Wales no longer exist, and haven’t for several years. The RMT backed them in 2004 for the europeans, if memory serves me. Very SSP inspired. Unfortunately, that was also a lash-up built around John Marek and later Ron Davies. The fact that there was a split from the beginning on Welsh independence probably didn’t help. Shame, but always likely.
Thank you for the update on Forward Wales. Which groups in Wales do you think the RMT will back in their absence?
I suppose maybe People’s Voice in Blaenau Gwent, although they are a very localised party. Then again, Forward Wales were only ever a force (briefly) in Wrexham so it is possible.
Plaid Cymru have become increasingly left-leaning, but still very much a liberal left position, and they are very broad with little TU support.
Nobody worth backing, to be honest. One or two Labour MP’s perhaps, that’s about it. The left in Wales is yet to recover from the collapse of the Welsh Socialist Alliance and Forward Wales, and the mythical ‘clear red water’ between Welsh Labour and New Labour has had the desired effect in some quarters of bringing people back over to Labour.
Regarding People’s Voice, how much do they exist as an organisation? Did they show any interest in TUSC or is there any prospect for unity?
I think TUSC will reach beyond areas we would have stood on our own as the SP, so it merits serious consideration as a coalition, but meat needs to be put on the bones now.