Socialist Green Unity Coalition


The Socialist Green Unity Coalition is an electoral alliance formed by leftist parties and political organisations in Great Britain prior to 2005 parliamentary election after the Respect Unity Coalition rejected requests to discuss an electoral arrangement to avoid clashes in 2005. It was established in September 2004, named in November 2004 and publicly launched in February 2005. After the 2005 election the coalition continued to operate as a liaison and co-ordinating body but has not extended its remit much beyond electoral co-ordination.
The largest single component is the Socialist Party. Other participating organisations include the Alliance for Green Socialism, Alliance for Workers Liberty and Socialist Unity Network and the Democratic Socialist Alliance, whose candidates in 2005 were also members of the United Socialist Party. Many of these organisations were in the previous Socialist Alliance before it voted to support the established of the Respect Unity Coalition.
All the SGUC member organisations campaigned on a common platform including calls for an end to privatisation, for defence of the welfare state, an end to poverty and for full employment. The SGUC also gave greater priority than most of its individual members to the question of the environment and building a sustainable economic system - largely due to the influence of the Alliance for Green Socialism.

The 2005 elections

The Socialist Party contested the 2005 election as Socialist Alternative in Bootle, Brighton Kemptown, Bristol North West, Cardiff South and Penarth, Coventry North East, Coventry South, Leicester West, Lewisham Deptford, Newcastle East and Wallsend, Sheffield Heeley, Stoke-on-Trent Central, Swansea West, Wakefield, Walthamstow, Wythenshawe and Sale East.
Coalition members stood against the Green Party in some constituencies but agreed not to compete with the Respect Coalition or the Scottish Socialist Party. It received over 12,000 in 2005 votes and did not come close to winning any seats and only succeeded in holding its deposit in one seat, Coventry North East, where its candidate was former Militant MP Dave Nellist.

Candidates

Socialist Alternative Party
Alliance for Green Socialism:
Democratic Socialist Alliance - People Before Profit
Socialist Unity Network
Following the election, the coalition agreed to remain in existence for future elections and to run a campaign in support of fair pensions. It stood candidates in the 2006 United Kingdom local elections. As of January 2010, the Socialist Party's continuing membership of SGUC is unclear as they have allied themselves with the TUSC from which other SGUC members had withdrawn.