Michael Lavalette victory in Preston

Respect councillor Michael Lavalette routed New Labour to retain his seat on Preston council. Respect polled 1179 votes, beating New Labour by 462 votes.


"New Labour threw everything at us in this campaign but they lost this among working class voters of every background. They lost it on the Iraq war, on the NHS and on privatisation" said Michael Lavalette.

Polling over 50 percent of all the votes cast in the Town Centre ward this is a massive reverse for New Labour in Preston.

In the Preston Riversway ward Respect's Elaine Abbot came second to New Labour and in the St Matthews ward the Respect candidate Samira Rezwan also came second to New Labour polling 339 votes to New Labour's 675.

Michael added, "This is a tremendous result for Respect. It is a vindication of our strategy for the the past four years of representing people, taking up casework, holding regular surgeries, and combining this with the big issues, such as opposing the war on Iraq and defending the NHS and the welfare state.

"When I was elected in 2003, Labour said that our vote was just a flash in the pan and a temporary anti-war protest vote. But we have raised our vote in the ward by 633 votes.

The full result in the Town Centre ward was:

Respect 1179
Labour Party 717
Liberal Democrats 206
Conservative Party 87
Greens 63


In Birmingham Respect's Mohammed Ishtiaq beat New Labour by over 1,000 votes to join Salma Yaqoob as Respect's second councillor in the Sparkbrook ward. The Liberal Democrats trailed in third with a poor 919 votes.

In Bolsover, Respect's Ray Holmes took 53 percent of the vote to gain the Shirebrook North seat from New Labour.