As it is becoming obvious that the Independent Alliance is seen as the biggest (and only) threat to the Labour Party here in South Tyneside we are determined to explain were we came from, how we are organised exactly what we believe in. We intend to do this by publishing a series of articles on our website, starting today. 

In May 2004 the whole council was up for re-election following boundary changes. Prior to the election being declared Allen Branley challenged the then leader of the Council Cllr Paul Waggott to a public debate on how the Council was run and why there was no open debate about the decisions being made. Need-less to say Cllr. Waggott did not take up the challenge but this public clash stirred up a considerable amount of interest in what was seen to be a moribund Council full of people who were only there for what they could get out of it and who would do the bidding of the Labour party leadership no matter what. 

At that election seven Independents were elected all on the back of the political furore Allen Branley created. Once the election was over both Cllr Allen Branley and Cllr. Jane Branley strived to bring the various opposition groups together. Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and Progressives met with Independents to decide how they could work together. 

One Independent did not, John McCabe and we now know why. He joined the Labour Party as soon as he could despite being elected as an Independent! 

The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats soon drifted away when they realised that they could not support the proposal that ALL opposition groups work together for the people of South Tyneside. They also felt that they could not agree to the principal of standing opposition election candidates on the basis of who stood the best chance of beating Labour and not on the basis of political groupings. We believe they were instructed to take this stand by their respective party headquarters in London. 

Despite this early setback the Independent Alliance was formed and led by Cllr Jane Branley we attempted to organise a borough wide approach to campaigning. The leadership of this group was secured by Cllr George Elsom on the promise that he would use the Opposition Leader’s allowance to finance the campaign – he did not. Instead he decided he would use the opposition leader’s allowance to support who he wanted without reference to anyone. 

As a result he ended up paying for 3500 printed Christmas cards for Cllr Tom Defty to distribute in the Bede ward and the election expenses of Paul Walker who had previously been a member of the Labour party, before aligning himself to the Independent Alliance and then subsequently the ‘real’ independents and now the Progressives. Cllr Elsom also wanted to select all candidates himself and veto certain candidates such as Ahmed Khan who was planning to stand in Beacon & Bents and Mervyn Owen in Horsley Hill. 

In 2006 a further two Independents were elected and the Independent Alliance continued to try to create an effective opposition of Independents and Progressives. It soon became clear that a number of councillors in the group had no interest in opposing the Labour Party. Like Labour Councillors they were determined to get as much from their position as possible and to do this they had to support the Labour Group. 

This resulted firstly in Cllr Elsom (who failed to secure the leadership of the Alliance for a second year) and Cllr Haram splitting off to form the ‘real’ independents. They were soon joined by the Progressives, Cllr Harrison and Cllr Defty. Together they formed a group of their own! 

Now if they were so opposed to acting in a unified way why do this? 

The answer is simple – it allowed them to take up positions in the Labour hierarchy and to claim the Opposition Leader’s allowance (Cllr Jane Branley who by now was the Alliance group leader refused to take this allowance). It also allowed them to join in all the free junkets and conference trips that Cllr Iain Malcolm could throw at them. 

Despite these early difficulties the Independent Alliance continued to work together with the eight elected councillors, election candidates and an increasing number of activists. 

Next .. How we are organised.

Share