Respect National Council

YOU NEED RESPECT TO GET RESPECT

1. New Labour has betrayed the hopes of millions of people who believe in a fairer and more equal society, and an ethical foreign policy based on peace and justice.
   
   
2. The economy is deep in recession, and unemployment is forecast to hit 3 million. Yet even the most obvious and practical measures - such as a extending public ownership of the financial system and the construction industry, the raising of taxes on the richest sections of society, and the cancellation of the dangerous and costly renewal of Trident nuclear weapons - are resisted by a government too afraid to upset big business.
   
   
3. We are fast approaching a general election. Labour's vote and party organisation is in steep decline as its supporters are disillusioned by their support for US imperialist wars and their weakness in the face of the economic crisis. The most likely outcome is the election of a Tory government.
   
   
4. Whichever party is elected, we will see a severe attack on public spending, public services, and living standards. But it is certain that a Tory government will embark on a programme of cuts that will have a devastating effect on communities up and down the country. The election of a Tory government would be a further setback for those who want to see a fairer Britain.
   
   
5. We have strong RESPECT candidates ready for the General Election battle. And we need to encourage new candidates to come forward, who will promote the values of Respect, who are rooted in their local communities, and who can make a credible challenge in the election. The Respect name is a brand we have developed, and fought for, since 2004 and is an electoral asset that is widely recognised and strongly identified with our most prominent elected representatives. Wherever we are in a position to do so and resource a credible campaign, we will therefore stand candidates in the General Election under own name, and independently of any other party.
   
   
6. However, RESPECT also recognizes the need to offer as many working people as possible an electoral alternative to New Labour, including constituencies where we cannot stand ourselves. There are potential advantages of unifying the left challenge and maximizing the support for the best-placed left candidate - which in our target seats will be RESPECT candidates. RESPECT's involvement can also help to strengthen and focus any such alliance. We will also therefore respond positively, and constructively to any serious efforts by well-established and credible national organizations, such as those which launched the No2EU campaign in the Euro Elections, to create a democratic framework - possibly around the principles of the People's Charter - which could facilitate a broader unity than we could achieve in our own right.
   
   
7. If no national framework can be created, on a case-by-case basis, RESPECT, via the national Council, will consider lending support to candidates from other parties and new electoral coalitions who are in the best position to advance the broad arguments for progressive change and resist the return of a Tory government. Should new electoral coalitions be formed in specific local areas Respect members would be free to stand under those colours, subject to National Council agreement, so long as the policies of the coalitions were broadly in line with Respect policy and standing as such would not undermine Respect's overall election prospects.
   
   
8. Where there are good Labour MPs who deserve this support, we will back them. Where there is a strong Green Party challenge we will work with them too, while we also issue a renewed, public appeal to the Green Party to discuss an arrangement to prevent damaging and wasteful rivalry between our two organizations where RESPECT has the front-running candidate. Where there are independent candidates, or new parties, who have shown that they can present a credible challenge, we will take a positive approach to them while retaining our independence.
   
   
9. We need an alternative to failed free market dogma. We need an alternative to an electoral system that disenfranchises the millions of people who don't vote for the winning party and consigns whole geographical areas to be taken for granted. As we approach the next General Election, all of us who support the values of peace, civil liberties, social justice and anti-racism must work together to deliver the strongest possible message of hope and change.