Michael Lavalette

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Michael Lavalette is a national council member of Respect - The Unity Coalition and councillor in Preston, England. He was elected as a Socialist Alliance candidate shortly after the Iraq War. He is also a member of the Socialist Workers Party, an atheist and Senior lecturer in Social Policy at the University of Liverpool. Along with Chris Jones, Iain Feguson, and Laura Penketh, he was an author of the "'Social Work manifesto for a new engaged practice'" and organiser of the Liverpool and Glasgow conferences of the Social Work Action Network (SWAN). A movement which stands in the radical social work tradition and seeks to oppose the increased managerialism and privatisation within the social work profession, and to promote social work practice based on principles of social justice.

He was joined on the council by Steve Brooks, a former Labour councillor who resigned because of a factory closure.

[edit] 2003 Election

Michael stood as a Socialist Alliance Against the War candidate (Weekly Worker Interview). The "Against The War" label was crucial in gaining him victory in a ward with over 40% Muslim voters. At the time sentiment against Labour and in particular the pro-war local MP, Mark Hendrick, was running high. It is questionable if the Socialist Alliance platform alone would have been sufficient for victory in such a ward.

{{{title}}}
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Socialist Alliance	Michael Lavalette	546	37.8
	Labour	Musa Ahmed Jiwa	440	30.4
	Conservative	Julian Sedgewick	228	15.8
	Liberal Democrats	Liam Pennington	220	15.2
Majority			106	{{{percentage}}}	{{{change}}}
Turnout			1,444	28	{{{change}}}
	Socialist Alliance gain from Labour		Swing	{{{swing}}}

In 2005 he stood as a Respect candidate in the Parliamentary elections for Preston coming fourth with almost 7% of the vote, which is considered very high for a fourth party and saved his deposit.

General Election 2005: Preston
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Mark Hendrick	17,210	50.5	-6.5
	Conservative	Fiona Bryce	7,803	22.9	-0.1
	Liberal Democrats	William Parkinson	5,701	16.7	+3.5
	Respect	Michael Lavalette	2,318	6.8	+6.8
	UK Independence	Ellen Boardman	1,049	3.1	+3.1
Majority			9,407	21.6
Turnout			34,081	53.8	+4.6
	Labour Co-op hold		Swing	-3.2

[edit] Published works

• Child labour in the social structure (1992)
• Child employment in the capitalist labour market (1994)
• Solidarity on the waterfront : the Liverpool lock out of 1995/96 (with Jane Kennedy) (1996)
• Social policy : a conceptual and theoretical introduction (edited with Alan Pratt) (1996)
• Anti-racism and social welfare (edited with Laura Penketh and Chris Jones) (1998)
• A thing of the past? : child labour in Britain in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries (editor) (1999)
• Child labor : a world history companion (with Sandy Hobbs and Jim McKechnie) (1999)
• Class struggle and social welfare (edited with Gerry Mooney) (2000)
• Leadership and social movements (edited with Colin Barker and Alan Johnson) (2001)
• Rethinking social welfare : a critical perspective (with Iain Ferguson and Gerry Mooney) (2002)
• Children, welfare and the state (edited with Barry Goldson and Jim McKechnie) (2002)
• A Palestine Journey; Respect For Palestine (pamphlet)
• Globalisation, global justice and social work (edited with Iain Ferguson and Elizabeth Whitmore) (2005)
• George Lansbury and the rebel councillors of Poplar (foreword by George Galloway) (2006)
• International Social Work and the Radical Tradition edited with Iain Ferguson (2007)