Front hoping race violence will boost poll share

Press, 19 August 1977, Page 6

Front hoping race violence will boost poll share

NZPA-Reuter

Birmingham

Voters in the decaying heart of Birmingham, in the industrial Midlands of England, went to the polls yesterday with a chance to demonstrate their views on three of the most topical issues confronting Britain: race relations, political extremism, and inflation.

The election for the Lady-| wood seat comes only three; days after a rally by one I contesting party, the far-l Right National Front, disintegrated into bloody; clashes between the police' and Left-wing extremists: trying to break up the rally, i The National Front is clearly hoping for a wave of anti-immigrant feeling which could give the party its' greatest share of a Parlia-! mentary vote to date. So far tne Front has not achieved even 10 per cent of i the vote in a Parliamentary! constituency.

The Labour candidate. Mr' John Sever, is favourite to I win the by-election as the seat has usually been held' by his party. The majority: at the last election was I 9739. It would take a 21 per cent swing for Ladywood to be captured by Mr Sever’s principal rival, the Conservative candidate, Mr Quentin Davies. But a number of factors are likely to make the result closer than Labour might hope for. Traditionally Birmingham’s immigrant communities have voted Labour, but yesterday the city’s Confederation of Indian Organisations called on the 12.000! Ladywood electors of Asian

•lorigin not to vote Labour: of the Labour Gov-! iemment’s policies on race) '.'relations and immigration. I i The confederation said! .that race relations had de-i ■ Iteriorated since the Labour) Prime Minister (Mr James. Callaghan) took over from i;Sir Harold Wilson last year. . i In the Lady wood con-; stituency, an impoverished) area of decaying houses and! i i high-rise flats near the: ('centre of Birmingham, at' • (least 40 per cent of the; >36,000 voters have West Iny.dian or Asian backgrounds, • fj The seat was left vacant' >|as an indirect result of the' 'appointment of Mr Peter'

r’Jay, the son-in-law of the; >. Prime Minister (Mr James J Callaghan), as Ambassador! [lto Washington. I Mr Brian Walden, who; >'held the seat for the ruling Labour Party, left Parlia- > mentary politics to become iMr Jay’s successor as presenter of a television news programme at £40,000 a year. > The Socialist Workers’ ' Party, which has never) : gained more than a tiny! • fraction of the vote at elec-! ■ tions, is hoping its role as I , spearhead of recent attacks! • on the National Front will: ■ Iwin it electoral dividends. i h The National Front, which i'is strongly anti-communist, i

1 calls for the repatriation of immigrants and their descendants. ■ The SWP preaches the 'overthrow ot capitalism > The result of the poll, in •which 10 candidates are (Standing, is expected about 7 o’clock this morning. In London the Socialist 'Workers’ Party has pledged ito try to halt a National (Front march planned for •Manchester, and it has warned: “It could easily develop into a Lewisham situation.” More than 200 people; (were arrested in the south-! least London suburb of Lewi-| sham, after Left-wingers; broke up a National Front) march and attacked thei police last Saturday. The National Front says; the march and meeting are ) being called on October 8 ; "to defend British free ’ speech from Red terrorism.” But a S.W.P. organiser, I Mr Steve Jefferys, com--1 mented: “It is taking place ' in an area with a high itn- ( migrant population. We call on trade unionists, socialists, ■;and black people to stop ’•the march. ■i "We hope violent tactics I won’t be necessary, but if ij the authorities allow it to go ahead we may have no alteri native. It could easily i develop into a Lewisham sit,l uation.”