Michael Lavalette

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Michael Lavalette during a Make Poverty History Rally. Michael.lavalette.JPG
Michael Lavalette during a Make Poverty History Rally.

Michael Lavalette (born 1962) is a member of the Socialist Workers Party and former local councillor in Preston, Lancashire, England. He was first elected as a Socialist Alliance candidate shortly after the Iraq War began in 2003. In 2007, he was re-elected, this time standing for the Respect Party. In the Respect split in 2007 he remained loyal to the SWP and broke with George Galloway. [1] Re-elected in 2012 as an Independent Socialist, he was affiliated with TUSC until he retired from his seat in 2015. [2]

Contents

He is the Everton Professor of Social and Community Engagement [3] at Liverpool Hope University, formerly having worked at both Liverpool and Central Lancashire universities. Along with Chris Jones, Iain Feguson, and Laura Penketh, he was an author of the Social Work manifesto for a new engaged practice [4] and organiser of the Liverpool and Glasgow conferences of the Social Work Action Network (SWAN), which stands in the radical social work tradition and seeks to oppose the increased managerialism and privatisation within the social work profession, and to promote social work practice based on principles of social justice. [5]

At the end of 2008 the Social Work Action Network ran a campaign defending social workers in the aftermath of the Baby P tragedy. [6] Shortly after, along with Iain Ferguson, he wrote a polemical pamphlet called 'Social Work After Baby P' that included significant contributions from academics, practitioners and senior trade union officers. [7]

Lavalette originally joined his local Labour Party in North Ayrshire at the age of 16 in 1979, but by January 1981 he had left to join the SWP. In the early 1990s he moved to Preston for work and became politically active in the local labour movement.

In Preston he is the co-ordinator of the local Stop the War Coalition. He organised a solidarity day in Preston for victims of the Asian Tsunami and has led campaigns against hospital privatisation, Islamophobia, the wars in the Middle East and support for local trade unionists on strike.

In May 2007 he was re-elected to Preston council and held his seat until May 2011, when he lost it to Labour. In December 2010 Lavalette proposed a motion to Preston City Council calling for opposition to cuts, job losses and privatisations. The motion had the backing of the local trades council and of 'Preston Against Cuts'. 5 Labour councillors had voted and spoken in favour of this motion at these meetings. When it came to the full council meeting however, all the Labour councillors voted against this motion, and for an amendment supporting 'fairer' cuts backed by the Liberals and Tories. [8]

In May 2012, he contested the seat again as a Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition supported candidate and was re-elected.

Lavalette regularly contributes to the Lancashire Evening Post .

Electoral history

2003 Local Election

Lavalette stood as a Socialist Alliance Against the War candidate. He was well known in the area as the leader of the local Stop the War Coalition. The "Against The War" label was crucial in gaining him victory in a ward with over 40% Muslim voters.[ citation needed ] George Galloway was alleged to have backed Michael Lavalette in this election, which was one of the charges that led to George Galloway being expelled from the Labour Party. [9]

Preston City Council Elections: Town Centre Ward 2003
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Socialist Alliance Michael Lavalette54637.81
Labour Musa Ahmed Jiwa44030.47
Conservative Julian Sedgewick22815.79
Liberal Democrats Liam Pennington22015.24
Majority1061.34
Turnout 1,44428.0
Socialist Alliance gain from Labour Swing

2004 European Election

In 2004 he was the lead candidate in the Respect list for the 2004 European Election in the North West England region.

European Election 2004: North West England [10]
ListCandidatesVotes%±
Labour Gary Titley , Arlene McCarthy , Terry Wynn
Brian Simpson, Theresa Griffin, Rosie Cooper, Albert Catterall, Rupa Huq, Ebrahim Adia
576,388
(192,129.33)
27.47.1
Conservative Den Dover , David Sumberg , Robert Atkins
Jacqueline Foster, David Newns, Alfred Doran, Eveleigh Dutton, Leslie Byrom, James Mawdsley
509,446
(169,815.33)
24.211.2
Liberal Democrats Chris Davies , Saj Karim
Helen Flo Clucas, Qassim Afzal, Stan Collins, Allison Seabourne, Paula Keaveney, Neil Corlett, Alison Firth
335,063
(167,531.5)
15.9+4.2
UKIP John Whittaker
Gregg Beaman, John Browne, Gerald Kelley, Alan Weddell, Stephen Roxborough, Richard Buttrey, Graham Cannon, Roy Hopwood
257,15811.7+5.2
BNP Nick Griffin, Martin Wingfield, Anthony Jones, Patricia Thomson, David Joines, Ralph Ellis, Richard Chadfield, Anita Corbett, Barry Birks [11] 134,9596.4+5.1
Green John Whitelegg, Gina Dowding, Spencer Fitz-Gibbon, Kay Roney, Peter Cranie, Vernon Marshall, Vanessa Hall, Kenneth McIver, James Craig117,3935.6+0.0
Liberal Steve Radford, David Green, Hazel Williams, Philip Burke, Christopher Lenton, Christopher Barnes, Michael Butler, Robin Radnell, Daniel Wood96,3254.6+2.4
English Democrat Christine Constable, Mark Wheatley, Julia Howman, Stephen Pipe, Lauren Spratt, Phillip Evans, Robert Abrams34,1101.6N/A
Respect Michael Lavalette, Ahmed Hadi, Sabiha Vorajee, Alexander McFadden, Stephen Metcalfe, Madeline Heneghan, Richard Searle, Edna Greenwood, Susan Mary Bond24,6361.2N/A
Countryside Rodney Black, Richard Malbon, Richard Ormrod, Kevin Tomkinson11,2830.5N/A
Prolife Alliance Fiona Pinto, Julia Millington, Kathleen Delarmi, Rosanne Allen, Fiona Daly10,0840.5N/A
Independent Ronald Alan Neal8,3180.4N/A
Turnout 2,115,16340.9+21.2

2005 General Election

In 2005 he stood as a Respect candidate in the Parliamentary elections for Preston coming fourth with almost 7% of the vote, saving his deposit. [12]

General Election 2005: Preston
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Co-op Mark Hendrick 17,21050.5-6.5
Conservative Fiona Bryce7,80322.9-0.1
Liberal Democrats William Parkinson5,70116.7+3.5
Respect Michael Lavalette2,3186.8+6.8
UKIP Ellen Boardman1,0493.1+3.1
Majority9,40721.6
Turnout 34,08153.8+4.6
Labour Co-op hold Swing -3.2

2007 Local Election

Lavalette kept his council seat, Preston Town Centre, with 1179 votes (more than 52%) increasing his majority by over 19%. [13]

Preston City Council Elections: Town Centre ward 2007
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Respect Michael Lavalette1,17952.3+14.2
Labour Salim Desai71731.8+1.1
Liberal Democrats Helen Greaves2069.2-6.1
Conservative Susan Horn873.9-12.0
Green Rupert Wadsworth632.8N/A
Majority46220.45+19.11
Rejected ballots7
Turnout 2,25946.4
Respect hold Swing

2011 Local Election

In May 2011 he lost his seat to Labour. He stood as a Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition candidate because the SWP had left Respect in 2007 and since joined TUSC.

Preston City Council Elections: Town Centre ward, 2011
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Yakub Patel96445.7+13.9
TUSC Michael Lavalette84039.8-12.5
Conservative Jonathan Cooper30514.5+10.6
Majority1245.9
Rejected ballots17
Turnout 2,10938.9
Labour gain from TUSC Swing

2012 Local Election

Lavalette successfully stood as an independent in 2012 in the ward which he has always stood in, Town Centre. Due to making the decision to stand at the last minute he did not have time to gain documents giving him the right to stand for Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition so had to stand as an independent candidate.[ citation needed ]

Preston City Council Elections: Town Centre ward 2012
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
IndependentMichael Lavalette96748.5N/A
Labour Salim Desai87243.8+2.9
Conservative David Treasure1547.7-5.2
Majority95
Turnout 1,993
Independent gain from Labour Swing

Next General Election

He will stand as an independent candidate for Preston in the next General Election [14] as apart of the No Ceasefire, No Vote movement. [15]

Next general election: Preston
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Liberal Democrats Neil Darby
Reform UK James Elliot
Labour Mark Hendrick
Independent Michael Lavalette
Majority
Turnout


Published works

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References

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  2. "SOCIALIST COUNCILLORS CAN HELP BOOST RESISTANCE". Tusc.org.uk. 12 May 2014. Retrieved 3 November 2021.
  3. Lavalette, Michael; Ioakimidis, Vasilios (19 October 2020). Social Work and the COVID-19 Pandemic. Policy Press. ISBN   9781447360360 . Retrieved 30 June 2021.
  4. "Social Work Action Network » Manifesto". Archived from the original on 1 January 2009. Retrieved 24 February 2010.
  5. Helen Carter Time is of the Essence The Guardian 11 March 2009
  6. "Social Work Action Network » Baby P-PETITION". Archived from the original on 1 January 2009. Retrieved 24 February 2010.
  7. I. Ferguson and M. Lavalette (2009) Social Work After baby P: Issues, debates and alternative perspectives (Liverpool, Hope University Press)
  8. "How should councillors oppose the cuts onslaught?". Socialistworker.co.uk. Retrieved 3 November 2021.
  9. "Galloway expelled from Labour". The Guardian . 23 October 2003. Retrieved 3 November 2021.
  10. "2004 Election candidates". UK Office of the European Parliament. Archived from the original on 4 October 2009. Retrieved 4 June 2009.
  11. "nwcand". 3 June 2004. Archived from the original on 3 June 2004. Retrieved 3 November 2021.
  12. "Michael Lavalette: Electoral history and profile | Politics | guardian.co.uk". Archived from the original on 25 April 2010. Retrieved 21 May 2011.
  13. "Respect Coalition - Website Respect Coalition". Respectcoalition.org. Retrieved 3 November 2021.
  14. "Former Preston councillor to stand as pro-Palestinian candidate in general election". Blog Preston. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
  15. "Palestine is on the ballot paper in Preston". Counterfire. Retrieved 29 March 2024.