They will be standing as part of the Socialist Alliance, which hopes to get candidates in a quarter of the seats in England, Wales and Scotland. Cllr Nellist, a former Labour MP who was expelled from the party for his association with left wing groups in 1992, will stand against Bob Ainsworth in Coventry North East. Cllr Windsor will be taking on Jim Cunningham in Coventry South, while former MEP Christine Oddy is expected to announce shortly that she will stand as an independent in Coventry North West against Geoffrey Robinson. Cllr Nellist said it would be the biggest left wing challenge to Labour since the 1930s. Apart from a few items on the margins things haven t improved.
Labour s more interested in the millionaires than the millions.
The pair, who are expecting the election to be held in May, said the central themes of the campaign would be to call for more money for under-funded social services, education, health and social services. Cllr Nellist accused New Labour of adopting Conservative policies, leaving everyone from students to pensioners worse off. There is a lot of anger and disillusionment out there. We ve had indications of support in the city where we have had interest before, which leads us to believe that we will mount a very credible campaign. Cllr Nellist, aged 48, said the aim was to use the election campaign to build a platform for future local and national efforts.