The Socialist Green Unity Coalition was an electoral alliance formed by leftist parties and political organisations in Great Britain prior to
2005 parliamentary election[Socialist / Green general election challenge launched](_blank)
Socialist Party
Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...
, 23 February 2004 after the
Respect Unity Coalition
The Respect Party was a left-wing to far-left, socialist political party active in the United Kingdom between 2004 and 2016. At the height of its success in 2007, the party had one Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons and nineteen ...
(which the SGUC constituent organisations regarded as little more than a vehicle for the
Socialist Workers Party) rejected requests to discuss an electoral arrangement to avoid clashes in 2005. It was established in September 2004, named in November 2004 and publicly launched in February 2005. After the 2005 election the coalition continued to operate as a liaison and co-ordinating body but has not extended its remit much beyond electoral co-ordination.
Participating organisations included the
Socialist Party
Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...
and the Alliance for Green Socialism (standing under their own name),
Alliance for Workers Liberty
The Alliance for Workers' Liberty (AWL), also known as Workers' Liberty, is a Trotskyist group in Britain and Australia, which has been identified with the theorist Sean Matgamna throughout its history. It publishes the newspaper '' Solidarity''. ...
,
Socialist Unity Network (both standing as ''Socialist Unity'') and the
Democratic Socialist Alliance, whose candidates in 2005 were also members of the
United Socialist Party. Many of these organisations were in the previous
Socialist Alliance before they voted to support the established of the
Respect Unity Coalition
The Respect Party was a left-wing to far-left, socialist political party active in the United Kingdom between 2004 and 2016. At the height of its success in 2007, the party had one Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons and nineteen ...
and dissolve the Socialist Alliance.
All the SGUC member organisations campaigned on a common platform including calls for an end to
privatisation
Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...
, for defence of the
welfare state
A welfare state is a form of government in which the state (or a well-established network of social institutions) protects and promotes the economic and social well-being of its citizens, based upon the principles of equal opportunity, equitabl ...
, an end to poverty and for
full employment
Full employment is a situation in which there is no cyclical or unemployment#Cyclical unemployment, deficient-demand unemployment. Full employment does not entail the disappearance of all unemployment, as other kinds of unemployment, namely Structu ...
.
The SGUC also gave greater priority than most of its individual members to the question of the environment and building a sustainable economic system - largely due to the influence of the Alliance for Green Socialism.
The 2005 elections
The Socialist Party contested the 2005 election as ''Socialist Alternative'' in
Bootle
Bootle (pronounced ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England, which had a population of 51,394 in 2011; the wider Bootle (UK Parliament constituency), Parliamentary constituency had a population of 98,449.
Histo ...
,
Brighton Kemptown
Brighton Kemptown, often referred to as Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven by local political parties, is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 by Lloyd Russell-Moyle, a Labour Co-op MP.
The constit ...
,
Bristol North West,
Cardiff South and Penarth,
Coventry North East,
Coventry South
Coventry South is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by Zarah Sultana of the Labour Party.
Members of Parliament MPs 1950–1974
MPs 1997–present
Constituency profile and boundaries
Cove ...
,
Leicester West
Leicester West is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Liz Kendall of the Labour Party. Along with the other two Leicester seats, it was held by Labour at the 2017 general election. Since its cr ...
,
Lewisham Deptford
Lewisham Deptford is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Vicky Foxcroft of the Labour Party.
History
This seat was created in 1974. It has remained largely urban in its consti ...
,
Newcastle East and Wallsend,
Sheffield Heeley
Sheffield Heeley is a List of United Kingdom Parliament constituencies, constituency represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, UK Parliament since 2015 by Louise Haigh, ...
,
Stoke-on-Trent Central,
Swansea West,
Wakefield
Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population, ...
,
Walthamstow
Walthamstow ( or ) is a large town in East London, east London, England, within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London and the Historic counties of England, ancient county of Essex. Situated northeast of Chari ...
,
Wythenshawe and Sale East
Wythenshawe and Sale East is a parliamentary constituency in the city of Manchester and the borough of Trafford. It returns one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past ...
.
Coalition members stood against the
Green Party
A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence.
Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...
in some constituencies (because the Green Party would not negotiate an electoral arrangement to avoid such clashes) but agreed not to compete with the
Respect Coalition
The Respect Party was a left-wing to far-left, socialist political party active in the United Kingdom between 2004 and 2016. At the height of its success in 2007, the party had one Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons and nineteen ...
or the
Scottish Socialist Party. It received over 12,000 in 2005 votes and did not come close to winning any seats and only succeeded in holding its deposit in one seat,
Coventry North East, where its candidate was former
Militant
The English word ''militant'' is both an adjective and a noun, and it is generally used to mean vigorously active, combative and/or aggressive, especially in support of a cause, as in "militant reformers". It comes from the 15th century Latin " ...
MP
Dave Nellist.
Candidates
Socialist Alternative Party
*Birmingham Northfield: Louise Houldey (Soc Alt)
*Bootle: Peter Glover (Soc Alt)
*Brighton Kemptown: Phil Clarke (Soc Alt)
*Bristol North West: Graeme Jones (Soc Alt)
*Cardiff South & Penarth: Dave Bartlett (Soc Alt)
*Coventry North East: Dave Nellist (Soc Alt)
*Coventry North West: Nicola Downes (Soc Alt)
*Coventry South: Rob Windsor (Soc Alt)
*Leicester West: Steve Score (Soc Alt)
*Lewisham Deptford: Ian Page (Soc Alt)
*Newcastle upon Tyne East & Wallsend: William Hopwood (Soc Alt)
*Sheffield Heeley: Mark Dunnell (Soc Alt)
*Stoke-on-trent Central: Jim Cessford (Soc Alt)
*Swansea West: Robert Williams (Soc Alt)
*Wakefield: Mick Griffiths (Soc Alt)
*Walthamstow: Nancy Taaffe (Soc Alt)
*Wythenshawe & Sale East: Lynn Worthington (Soc Alt)
Alliance for Green Socialism:
*
Brighton Pavilion:
Tony Greenstein
Tony Greenstein is a British left-wing activist and writer. An anti-fascist and former squatter, he was a founder member of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and stood for parliament as a representative of the Alliance for Green Socialism. In 201 ...
(Green Soc)
*Kensington & Chelsea: Eddie Adams (Green Soc)
*Leeds North East: Celia Foote (Green Soc)
*Leeds North West: Jeannie Sutton (Green Soc)
*Pontefract & Castleford: Bob Hague (Green Soc)
Democratic Socialist Alliance - People Before Profit
*Liverpool Wavertree: Paul Filby (Dem Soc All)
*Crawley: Robin Burnham (Dem Soc All)
Socialist Unity Network
*Nottingham East: Pete Ratcliff (Soc Unity)
*Swindon North: Andy Newman (Soc Unity)
After 2005
Following the election, the coalition agreed to remain in existence for future elections and to run a campaign in support of fair pensions. It stood candidates in the
2006 United Kingdom local elections
Local government elections took place in England (only) on Thursday 4 May 2006. Polling stations were open between 7:00 and 22:00.
All London borough council seats were up for election, as well as a third of the seats on each of the metropoli ...
.
Socialist Green Unity Coalition - local election 2006 results
Disbanding
The SUGC went into decline following the 2005 General Elections. As of January 2010, the Socialist Party's continuing membership of SGUC is unclear as they have allied themselves with the TUSC (Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition
Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) is a socialist electoral alliance launched in Britain for the 2010 general election.
TUSC's co-founder was the RMT union general secretary Bob Crow. Members of the PCS, NUT, FBU and POA unio ...
) from which other SGUC members (notably the Alliance for Green Socialism) had withdrawn. The Alliance for Green Socialism stood candidates under their own name in 2010, 2015, 2017 and 2019 respectively.
This, and a lack of recent electoral activity, suggests that the SUGC has been dissolved.
References
External links
Campaign materials
Alliance for Green Socialism
Alliance for Workers Liberty
AWL archive on the SGUC
AWL archive on left unity initiatives
Socialist Alliance Democracy Platform
Socialist Party
Socialist Unity Network
{{Militant
2004 establishments in the United Kingdom
Defunct left-wing political party alliances
Defunct political parties in England
Defunct political parties in Wales
Defunct political party alliances in the United Kingdom
Defunct socialist parties in the United Kingdom
Ecosocialist parties
Political parties established in 2004