Michael Lavalette (born 1962) is a member of the Socialist Workers Party and until May 2011 a local councillor in Preston, Lancashire, England. He was first elected as a Socialist Alliance candidate shortly after the start of the Iraq War in 2003. And re-elected as a Respect councillor in 2007. In the split within Respect in 2007 he remained loyal to the SWP and broke with George Galloway.[1]
He is an Associate Professor of Social Work at Liverpool Hope University, formerly having worked at both Liverpool and Central Lancashire universities.
Along with Chris Jones, Iain Feguson, and Laura Penketh, he was an author of the Social Work manifesto for a new engaged practice[2] and organiser of the Liverpool and Glasgow conferences of the Social Work Action Network (SWAN), 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.[3]
At the end of 2008 the Social Work Action Network ran a campaign defending social workers in the aftermath of the Baby P tragedy.[4] Shortly after, along with Iain Ferguson, he wrote a polemical pamphlet called 'Social Work After Baby P' that included significant contributions from academics, practitioners and senior trade union officers.[5]
Lavalette originally joined his local Labour Party in North Ayrshire at the age of 16 in 1979, but by January 1981 he had left to join the SWP. In the early 1990s he moved to Preston for work and became politically active in the local labour movement.
In Preston he continues to be politically active. He is the co-ordinator of the local Stop the War Coalition. He organised a solidarity day in Preston for victims of the Asian Tsunami and has led campaigns against hospital privatisation, Islamaphobia, the wars in the Middle East and support for local trade unionists on strike.
He regularly writes for the local paper the Lancashire Evening Post.
In May 2007 he was re-elected to Preston council and held his seat until May 2011.
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Lavalette stood as a Socialist Alliance Against the War candidate. He was well known in the area as the leader of the local Stop the War Coalition. 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.
George Galloway was alleged to have backed Michael Lavalette in this election, which was one of the charges that led to George Galloway being expelled from the Labour Party.[6]
| {{{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 Democrat | 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.[7]
| 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 Democrat | William Parkinson | 5,701 | 16.7 | +3.5 | |
| Respect | Michael Lavalette | 2,318 | 6.8 | +6.8 | |
| UKIP | 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 | |||
Lavalette kept his council seat, Preston Town Centre, with 1179 votes (52%).[8]
In December 2010 Michael Lavalette proposed a motion to Preston City Council calling for opposition to cuts, job losses and privatisations. This motion had the backing of the local trades council and of 'Preston Against Cuts'. 5 Labour councillors had voted and spoken in favour of this motion at these meetings. When it came to the full council meeting however, all the Labour councillors voted against this motion, and for an amendment supporting 'fairer' cuts backed by the Liberals and Tories.[9]