Election Special
Socialist Organiser1982 1982-05-13Read it in the scan (PDF), scan page 6 →
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Lothian's "Duke of York" on the cuts lost Labour potes SINCE last year's Labour conference, and even more so since January's "Bishop's Stortford" talks, the message thrown again and again at Labour activists by the Parliamentary leadership has been: Rally behind the Labour status quo. Drop the fight for structural and political transformation of the Labour Party. Unite at all costs - because the general election is coming and the SDP will get you.
On May 6 this line was put to the test. Labour's worst result was in Birmingham - where Labour council leader Clive Wilkinson is, as AGAINST a trend which saw only prominent senior Labour politician who publicly proclaims himself to be 'right wing' " and has cut more ferociously than many Tory councils. In an election where ward boundaries were changed, the Tories won 11 seats more than before and gained control.
Labour's best result was in Islington - where local left-wingers have pushed through the fight against the right wing so thoroughly that all three local Labour MPs and 25 councillors defected to the SDP. Recipe for disaster? No. Labour swept in with a 10% swing, an increased vote, and a 51-1 majority against the SDP in the new council. s STOp set the price of cooperation