For the first
time in 21 years the Tories took control of the council in Bury,
Greater Manchester. David Cameron made the news headlines with a
photo opportunity under the statue of Sir Robert Peel, founder of
the Tory party, who was born there.
Paul Gerrard, Manchester CNWP
Labour
have no-one to blame but themselves. In 2006 they stubbornly
tried to close two high schools serving deprived areas. The Save
Our Schools campaign stood in six wards and displaced two Labour
councillors. At the time Labour gave the impression the sky would
fall in if there was no ‘rationalisation’ of school places. Two
years on, both schools are open and doing fine, and no other
school has been identified for closure. This issue cost Labour
dearly and the Lib Dems (busy closing schools in towns like
Cardiff) made huge capital out of it.
In 2007
Labour lost control of the council but the Tories had no overall
majority and were dependent on deals with the Lib Dems. However
last Thursday Labour lost three seats to the Tories and one to the
Lib Dems, giving the Tories their tally of 26 seats to Labour’s
16, with the Lib Dems on nine.
The BNP
stood in eight wards, more than ever before, winning nearly 500
votes in each of the three wards in Radcliffe, a declining mill
town and former Labour heartland.
Labour
won only two out of nine seats in the southern part of the
borough. Ivan Lewis, Labour MP for Bury South, must be getting
worried. As Minister for Care Services he has repeatedly been
lobbied by striking mental health workers over the sacking of
leading trade unionist and health cuts whistle-blower Karen
Reissmann. He has consistently refused to intervene but now that
panic is setting in among Labour MPs scared of losing their seats
he has the cheek to say:
“You need
to be absolutely clear about the mainstream majority's definition
of fairness and standing up for hard-working families."
We know what’s
fair and what’s not. We also know who stands up for 'hard-working
families' and all working class people – and it’s not New Labour
or any of the establishment parties. Ivan Lewis might soon be
finding out for himself how it feels to get the sack.
We need to fight
for a new mass workers' party and make sure he's booted out in
favour of a candidate that stands up for working class peoples
interests!
