Jamal Elaheebocus spoke to Michael Preston about his and the other independents’ victories in Preston’s council elections

There have been huge swings away from the big two parties in the local elections so far and, amid worrying gains for Reform in many councils, results in Preston are a welcome positive for the left. Three independent candidates, part of the Preston Independents grouping, standing on a pro-Palestine, anti-austerity platform, unseated Labour councillors. The results follow a very successful general election campaign in which Michael Lavalette stood as an independent and won 22% of the vote, coming second behind the Labour candidate.

This time around, Lavalette won the Preston Central East seat with a majority of 898, and fellow Preston Independents Almas Razakazi and Yousuf Motala won Preston South East and Preston Central respectively. All three won with majorities of over 700 votes. Razakazi defeated the Labour leader of the opposition and former leader of the council.

Counterfire spoke to Michael Lavalette about the significance of these election results and what they mean for the fight against Reform and building a Left electoral alternative:

‘It is an astonishingly good result. To stand four candidates and get three elected is beyond our expectations.

‘It shows, though, that if you are prepared to work in and with communities and emphasise the issues that affect people, we can build electoral support around the slogan of welfare not warfare.

‘The result is also important because, in a small way, it shows how we can push Reform back. They did well across Lancashire. They did well in Preston. But where we stood, we were able to block them because we were able to show that we are the anti-establishment group standing up for working-class communities.

‘Now the hard work starts! We need to show in practice that voting for us makes a difference. We have to relate to our communities as politicians who are part of the fabric of our neighbourhoods, that their problems are our problems and that there are collective solutions to the horrors of austerity and war.’