Vote Green to beat racism – Left Unity backs Peter Cranie in European election
In a joint announcement today, the North West region of Left Unity has offered a public endorsement of the lead Green candidate Peter Cranie for the European Elections. Felicity Dowling, a former Liverpool councillor, and a Principal Speaker for Left Unity, said:
“In the last European Election the Green Party gained 7.7% of the vote and the BNP won the final seat in the North West region with just 8%. The Greens can command enough of the vote to ensure that Nick Griffin will lose his seat in the European Parliament.”
“Peter is a committed anti-racism campaigner, an active trade unionist and a confirmed opponent of austerity. If elected, he is committed to working with trade union campaigns through his European role.”
“Votes for Labour in this election will not help combat austerity. Labour has pledged to match coalition spending plans for their first year of government. Left Unity is urging its supporters to use their votes in the most effective way to influence the national debate in the absence of a Left Unity candidate.”
“We call upon those in the North West who oppose fascism and who oppose austerity to use their vote tactically to elect Peter Cranie. It is crucial that the story of these European Elections is not just about UKIP and their anti-immigrant and anti-European agenda, but also shows there is electoral strength for a growing movement against austerity.”
In response to the endorsement, Peter Cranie commented:
“Left Unity has shown that they will approach politics in a different way and we very much welcome this endorsement in the North West.”
“As an anti-racist campaigner with the Merseyside Coalition Against Racism and Fascism for many years, the priority for all anti-racist voters has to be to ensure that Nick Griffin is ejected from the European Parliament.”
“We also must kick the legs out from under the coalition and the failed policies of austerity in this election. The final seat in the North West will be contested between the Greens, the Liberal Democrats and the BNP. If the Greens win, it will leave the Liberal Democrats in 5th place nationally in this election.”
“After these European Elections and Nick Clegg’s disastrous debate appearances, we want to see Liberal Democrats forced into a change of leader and a change of direction, bringing an end to this appalling coalition and an early General Election. The latest European poll by ICM shows the Greens level with the Liberal Democrats [1], and endorsements like this one by Left Unity, could be crucial.”
The statement from Left Unity follows a letter to the Morning Star newspaper earlier this year [2], where many North West Trade Unionists, among them a prominent 2009 NO2EU candidate, Alec McFadden, urged unity and for other groups on the left to back the Greens. In 2009 the combined vote of the Socialist Labour Party and the NO2EU lists was just 3%, but the Greens would have only needed an extra 0.3% to prevent Griffin from ever taking a seat in Europe.
Peter Cranie added:
“We respect the immense contribution that Bob Crow made to the Trade Union movement and that he was a committed supporter of NO2EU. The Green Party policy on Europe is that people should have a referendum now, something both the Greens and NO2EU could agree on.”
“Our door is open for dialogue and we must avoid a situation where the BNP are able to sneak back in due to a controversial media story allowing them whip up hate and prejudice close to the election. It’s our duty to do everything we can to eject Griffin from the European Parliament and I’ll work alongside all campaigners committed to that aim.”
ENDS
[1] http://www.theguardian.com/politics/series/observer-opinium-politics-polls
[2] http://petercranie.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/prominent-2009-no2eu-candidate-and-nw.html
9 comments
9 responses to “Vote Green to beat racism – Left Unity backs Peter Cranie in European election”
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Fantastic to see some real left unity for a change! Congratulations to all for reaching this agreement. Fingers crossed for next month…
Go Peter!
I hate to tell you all this, but the logic to this slogan is flawed!* If anything, it would be more logical to vote Labour to prevent a ukip surge (not that I’m suggesting people hold their nose and vote Labour), Labour is projected to come first, with ukip not far behind. In other words, ukip is the bigger danger, not BNP, which it looks like they’ll lose their one remaining seat.
* Its unlikely the Green vote will hold up in the North West (Peter is unlikely to get voted in), in fact, they face a wipe out, the Green vote has been on a decline for a while. See Poll watch
http://www.pollwatch2014.eu
In spite of Justin’s comments the Greens are the best bet in the North West. The tragedy is the democratic deficit which denies the UK electorate the opportunity of voting for a left candidate. European polls suggest that the European Parliamentary Group of the Left (GUE-NGL)will increase its number of MEP’s from 35 to a least 60 in next months European Elections and could be the third strongest group in the European Parliament. Alex Tsipras’ candidacy for President of the European Commission on behalf of the European Left party has energized the leftist movement across Europe. The UK is one of the few countries in Europe where disenchantment with the old centre-left parties has not resulted in increased support for a left party. Left Unity can change that!
Yes, I hear you, ‘Left Unity will change’ the disenchantment. Why not vote Socialist Equality party? That would be a great show of unity for fellow socialists. I call it the UNITY test for the left. ;)
On the Greens: They don’t consistently identify with the left or the working class, there are countless examples of this, eg. Brighton, in European countries such as Germany. Lastly, do you honestly expect the Greens to get the 12-13% (1/8th of the vote), of the vote required to get an MEP in the NW? I might be wrong and I don’t really want to say I told you so but I can’t see it somehow. The most likely situation it that the two remaining Green MEPs just manage to scrap through, or they lose one of them, possibly both overall.
Given what I’ve said above, you’ve no excuse not to cast a vote for SEP, just as unlikely to get elected and I have issues with some of their politics myself, but at least they come out as socialists. I’m actually a little bit envious that comrades in the North West have the opportunity (leaving their fourth internationalist delusions aside), to vote for a socialist. I will most likely have to spoil my ballot in the East.
i wish to point out to justin that left’s aim should not simply be to keep the BNP out but to get a reasonable candidate in. Therefore Greens seem to be the best. if Green’s rating is going down then we need to work on it. Furthermore if Green’s policy is to call a referendum, then they should say so loudly so that ordinary people can hear it and take note of it. I was not aware of it. EU referendum is going to be the most important issue in this election and the sooner its importance is grasped the better. I am a bit disappointed with the Greens with their policies in the council. still they are better than labour.
we must get labour out of our system.
Sushma:
‘i wish to point out to justin that left’s aim should not simply be to keep the BNP out but to get a reasonable candidate in.’
Well the Labour party would make that same argument wouldn’t they? And they have a much greater chance of doing that. Therefore, according to this logic, Labour are the best. But I’m sure we both agree that they’re not. :P
‘if Green’s rating is going down then we need to work on it.’
Because a some LU supporters in the North West will make the difference.
‘Furthermore if Green’s policy is to call a referendum, then they should say so loudly so that ordinary people can hear it and take note of it.’
I don’t see what can be gained from having an EU referendum. Encroaching onto ukip/conservative right-wing territory is not a good idea, besides, we passed a decent motion about the EU question at the last conference, European unity is just what we need, calls for referendums and withdrawal from the EU do not help our cause.
‘I am a bit disappointed with the Greens with their policies in the council. still they are better than Labour.
we must get Labour out of our system.
I disagree, when the greens get power they prove to be no better than Labour. In some cases, some Labour Councillors have got themselves expelled from the party for opposing cuts. They’re worth supporting are they not? a lot of this has to do with the fact that Labour has a much stronger connection to the working class than the greens. Lastly, should we not try to get ‘lesser evilism’ out of our system?
This issue is clear evidence of how wishy-washy Left Unity’s politics actually is. Where’s the class politics in all this – nowhere! The Green Party does not base its politics on the working class and has no priority orientation towards working class organisations. For a supposed left wing organisation to call for a vote for the Greens is nonsense.
Indeed.