At the polling station in Salford tomorrow, voters will be presented with two ballot papers – one for the local elections and one for the Euro election. The Salford Star has already tried to cover the local election (see here and see here), but what about the Euros?
This is the election that no-one's ever bothered much about before - but this year seems to be taking on a greater significance in the North West, given the unprecedented coverage of UKIP by the British media, plus the chance to boot the BNP's Nick Griffin out of office.
First of all we'll try and explain the voting system, which is Proportional Representation…
You get one vote and there's eleven parties standing in the North West. And you just stick your cross next to the party you want to vote for. That's the easy bit. But behind that, each of those eleven parties have up to eight candidates hoping to get one of the eight seats available in the North West. A total of 83 candidates altogether. Seats are dished out according to how many votes each party gets. Here's the official explanation (skip this bit if you've got a life)…
The party with the highest number of votes is allocated the first seat. The candidate at the top of the party's list is elected. The votes of the party winning the first seat are then divided by the number of seats they have won + 1 ( i.e. 2 ) and the resultant number of votes go forward to be compared with the number of votes for the other parties and candidates to decide who wins the next seat. The exercise is then repeated. As each successful party wins its first seat, its votes are divided by 2. This divisor is then increased by 1 each time this party wins a further seat. (NB it is the total number of votes cast for the party which is divided by the divisor, NOT the number resulting from the previous division.) In the event that an independent candidate is elected or all the candidates on a party's list have been elected, the votes cast for that party are excluded from the remainder of the exercise.
From the media coverage you would think there are only four parties standing – Tories, Labour, LibDem and UKIP – but there are actually eleven…
There is the very, very interesting Pirate Party UK, which has already has two Swedish MEPs. The Pirates are pro-Europe but want to see it more democratic and accountable. They also campaign for an end to mass electronic surveillance, the right to free speech and less control of the internet. The Pirates are about `Digital rights for the people'…no idea where they stand on fracking and EU-US trade treaties...
Meanwhile, if you are not in favour of Europe but can't be doing with all the right wing nationalism and racism associated with the anti-Europe parties, no2eu is for you. Under the banner `Exit Left', their slogan is `no2eu:Yes to Workers Rights'. They reject EU policies which, they say, will privatise transport and postal services and the existence of the NHS. While being in favour of `international solidarity of working people', and against all racism and fascism, no2eu campaigns for withdrawal from the European Union.
Also standing against Europe `and for the United Socialist States of Europe' for the from the far left is the very strange Socialist Equality Party, which is very concerned about Ukraine… "the EU is neck-deep in US-led provocations against Russia" it states, adding in a catchy, vote winning soundbite that "The contradiction between the globally integrated nature of capitalism as a world system and the nation-state structures within which it is historically rooted are destroying the basis for international coordination and stability between the capitalist powers, leading to the re-emergence of virulent nationalism and inter-imperialist antagonisms. A new period of wars and revolutions has begun. There is no peaceful or easy way out of this crisis. No reformist palliatives will suffice. Only the mobilisation of the international working class to overthrow capitalism can provide a way forward…" Quite!.
The Green Party – growing in the polls but getting almost zero media coverage – missed out on getting an MEP elected at the last Euros by just 0.3% of the vote, which allowed the BNP to sneak in. Massive at the Barton Moss anti-fracking protests in Salford, the Greens obviously have low carbon, affordable, renewable energy policies at the forefront of their campaign – but they are also anti-austerity and against secret US-EU trade deals amongst other things. They say that a vote for the Greens is the best chance of booting out the BNP's Nick Griffin, and even have a Green Not Griffin website.
Also dedicated to booting out Nick Griffin is the Hope Not Hate campaign, backed by the Daily Mirror and an array of celebs, political parties and trade unions. At this year's May Day rally, anti-BNP speakers urged voters to "vote something, anything but BNP in the European Elections"… "Racism is a very old tool to divide us. We are not stupid. They think we are. We have to show them that we're not stupid…We know that there are problems in the North West but the BNP and far right don't have the answers."
Indeed, the Hope Not Hate campaign has expanded to include a Hope Not Fear campaign against UKIP and the English Democrats (which would "seek to work with" the French National Front's Marine Le Pen if elected)…
"It's easy to be taken in by parties like the BNP and UKIP, who point to people who say immigrants are the cause of our problems…But they are wrong… Immigrants are not to blame for our economic problems. They are not the ones cutting public spending; they are not the ones imposing pay freezes while the cost of living rises…The real culprits fleecing the system are the big companies and rich people who owe £35billion in taxes…"
The leaflet currently circulating, called Why UKIP Is Not Your Party, quotes Nigel Farage…"I'm the only politician keeping the flame of Thatcherism alive"…and points to UKIP's policies of tax cuts for the rich, schools for the elite, privatising the NHS and slashing maternity pay. The leaflet comes complete with the slogan `UKIP: They are not on your side'…
And somewhere to the left of UKIP and the BNP are An Independence From Europe which is anti-EU immigration, anti-HS2, anti-regulation, er anti-Europe and anti-everything, it seems...
The Salford Star is independent, not alligned to any political party and never tells anyone which way to vote...
PS Also standing are the Labour Party, the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats.
For a full list of candidates see the official European Election website for the North West – click here
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