The Respect Party’s Annual General Meeting took place on Saturday 31st May in Bradford, with a healthy turn-out of members from as far afield as the South West and Scotland.

Despite a disappointing set of results in the local elections last week, the meeting was tremendously positive and members present left with a fresh and optimistic outlook about our future prospects. There are high and low moments for all political parties, and we have resolved to come back stronger as we believe that there is still an important requirement for a progressive party like us in Britain.

The meeting beginning with a tour d’horizon  by MP George Galloway of the national political landscape (see below), referring to the electoral swing to the right towards UKIP as well as the ever-present danger posed by racism and xenophobia exemplified just this week by Pastor James McConnell in Northern Ireland.

The meeting also witnessed speeches by many of our members old and new. A central theme which the new membership will take forward is that there remains a large centre-left constituency in this country who need a voice to speak for them and people still feel that Respect can occupy that space. We have therefore vowed in the coming months to focus on outlining a strong position on issues such as opposing tuition fees. We will also be working hard to persuade people that Respect is the legitimate progressive alternative to the three main parties, and the natural party for people who have otherwise been led astray by the fake “people’s army” reputation of UKIP.

A new-look National Council was elected at the AGM, with the NC to meet at a later date to elect a new cadre. It was also decided that a new full-time National Organiser would be elected to oversee next year’s general election. With a new full-time organiser, we will be aiming to harness the enthusiasm and potential support for our progressive politics that exists to select a capable and competitive set of candidates in some key constituencies. We will also be focusing on attracting support across universities and organising local branch activity across the UK.

There will be a membership recruitment drive this month. Annual membership will now cost just £10 throughout whole month of June. You can rejoin online here. Please help spread this message to help sign up as many old members as possible, as many of our future plans are dependent on the commitment of our supporters and members to sign up for membership.