People Before Profit Cllr Shaun Harkin said the party will hold Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and SDLP leader Colum Eastwood’s feet to the fire on their election pledges.
Cllr Harkin was responding to the Westminster election result with Labour winning the General Election by a landside and Mr Eastwood retained his Foyle seat with a reduced majority.
The Foyleside councillor polled 2,444 votes in GE2024 and came in fourth behind the DUP’s Gary Middleton and Sandra Duffy of Sinn Fein.
Said Mr Harkin: “We’d like to thank each and every person who voted People Before Profit on July 4.
“We increased our vote from 1300 in the last Westminster election to almost 2500 this time. We doubled our vote share from 2.8% to 6.4%.
“Not a bad result when the incumbent was claiming to support all our policies and saying a vote for anyone but him would be wasted!
“Even though they managed to keep the Foyle seat, the SDLP they had a massive decline in their vote. The DUP also suffered a steep decline, as did others.
“Sinn Féin clearly paid a price in Derry for standing with Joe Biden in the White House while he funds slaughter and starvation in Gaza.
“We know many people voted strategically because of the nature of this ‘first past the post’ election.
“We will double our efforts to win their support for the next Assembly election, in which we believe we can re-win a Socialist seat for Derry.
“This election makes clear People Before Profit is a growing force in Derry and across Ireland.
“Our local MP pledged support for important demands and we will hold his feet to the fire.
“First among these is ending the Gaza genocide. Recognition of the Palestinian state isn’t enough.
“We celebrate the crushing defeat suffered by the Tories.
“We will demand Keir Starmer enact every progressive pledge he has ever made including repealing the Legacy Bill.
“We will challenge Starmer to end support for the Gaza genocide, scrap the two-child limit and all the other commitments he cynically reversed support on.
“We will demand Starmer does not stand in the way of a referendum on our constitutional future or undermine efforts to end partition.
“Jeremy Corbyn’s election shows, just like here, there is strong support for a genuine alternative to the status quo.
“Elections are important. We had to struggle for our right to vote. We will fight for any platform to amplify demands, encourage campaigns, expose complicity with injustice and make alternative proposals.
But the key to change doesn’t depend on those occupying the green Westminster benches or Stormont Assembly seats.
“Progressive change needs people power. ‘Feet on the street’ as Eamonn McCann puts it.
“In the weeks ahead we will be working to build people power campaigns demanding action on housing, the NHS, child poverty, workers’ rights and a lot more from Westminster and Stormont.”
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