A day after the election, dust has settled and there is now time for some reflection on the election result in Preston, writes Michael Lavalette

The headline is fairly straight forward. We came from nowhere to get second place on just over 21 per cent of the vote. A good result in anyone’s terms.

But let’s try to delve a little deeper.

In Preston we only decided to stand in the election in March. The demand had been growing from November as part of the demand for ‘No ceasefire, no vote’. We held an open, contested, hustings in March where I was selected as the candidate.

Like most people we were taken by surprise by the election announcement. Six weeks ago we didn’t have a bank account, we didn’t have any money and only a very few of us had any experience of running an election campaign!

And we didn’t have any of the data or history of voting that the parties of the establishment have.

We were always the underdogs, but we fought because we thought it was the right thing to do.

The local Labour MP has held the constituency for 25 years. He is a terrible constituency MP, rarely around or engaging with Constituents. He doesn’t hold any significant position in the Labour Party and he has always voted with the Labour whip. He is simply backbench canon fodder.

Despite claiming otherwise, he didn’t vote for a ceasefire in Novemebr. Moreover, historically, he still claims he is proud of his voting record on Iraq (where he repeatedly voted for war and against any independent inquiry into the Iraq shambles).

So although Preston was a safe Labour seat with a small, but significant, Muslim minority in the constituency, we decided to run a campaign based on ‘Palestine plus’.

We fought on the basis that the political establishment don’t listen to us and ignore us unless its election time.

They ignore our demands for a ceasefire, but also ignore us around defence of the NHS, housing issues, the cost of living crisis, student fees, pensions, social care and the destruction of the welfare state. So ‘Palestine plus’ translated into slogans like ‘welfare not warfare’, ‘we all need a pay rise’ and ‘no private profits from health care services’.

We said at the set out our aim was to give Labour a ‘bloody nose’ and we set out our objectives in various steps:

1. Could we save our deposit?
2. Could we beat the Lib Dems (who were third last time)?
3. Could we beat the Tories (who last time got second)?
4. Then when Reform came along – could we beat them?
5. Finally, could we climb the immense mountain that was Labour’s ‘safe seat’ and their 12,000 majority?

Our campaign was solely focused on Labour (despite being the target of the most dreadful, and dirty campaign led by another independent candidate – who had limitless resources to through at the campaign).

We found a constituency where there were almost three campaigns in one.

First, in our core areas, there was something akin to the Corbyn election rebellion of 2017. It was active, enthusiastic and hopeful. People campaigned, phoned friends, set whatsapp groups alive with argument, canvassed, rallied and had a clear focus that this was the ‘Palestine election’.

Secondly, in the skilled and professional working class areas there was immense confusion. There was no enthusiasm for Stammer. There was total disregard for the hopeless local MP. But there was also unbounded hatred of the Tories. As we canvassed we were treated seriously and listened to. But we didn’t have a track record and, though sympathetic, it was a hard task to convince them that we could win. And the fear that we might let the Tories in was never far away.

Then there was a third part of the constituency- the larger, abandoned working class ‘peripheral’ estates. Going onto the estates was hard work, not because we met hostility – we didn’t- but there was just total mistrust of politicians (and that included us, even though we argued we shared much of their disdain). We spent long afternoons canvassing these areas, but not for much in terms of electoral returns.

We named Thursday ‘Independent’s Day’ and ‘Preston’s Palestine Day’.

We asked people to come out and vote to send a message to our brothers and sisters in Gaza and to the political establishment that it was time to put ‘people, Preston and Palestine first’.

When the result came in we were all disappointed that Hendrick is still our MP in the city.

But if we look at the bigger picture Thursday was a fantastic day for us.

We said we wanted to put Palestine on the ballot paper and we fought, we campaigned and we voted for Palestine in our thousands.

We gave Labour a bloody nose (and a couple of black eyes as well).

In terms of our objectives:

1. We saved our deposit.
2. We beat all the other parties.
3. We got more votes than the Tories and Lib Dems combined.
4. We reduced Labour’s majority from 12k to 5k
5. We took 21.8% of the vote.
6. And we showed what we could do when we work together.

We took votes right across Preston – including those abandoned white working class communities. But Deepdale and Frenchwood were the heart of our rebellion (where we beat Labour by over 1000 votes in each area).

We also beat Reform, a not insignificant achievement considering what happened in other northern towns.

Although I was the independent candidate, this was never about me. We were all part of a collective movement that set out to challenge the political establishment.

We are now second in Preston. In the future we will have a record. People will know we are the opposition and the ones who can realistically beat Labour.

But to do that we need more people and more canvassers, particularly in the large estates. We need to show that we are the ones to best represent them, to take up their issues and to demand better jobs, better pay, better housing and lower rents.

And the challenge is there for us all. Because we now have a Labour Government who will be implementing cuts and austerity and if we don’t step up, the cheer leaders of right-wing populism and fascism will try to enter the field.

To stop Reform, we need a more united, active and class based response from the left. The stakes are too high for us to get this wrong.

But the results of the Independents on Thursday give us a glimpse of a possible, better future. We now have something to build on – and the first part of that process is deepening the movement for Palestine and against war, austerity and injustice.