Battle for Brighton

With a general election just around the corner and a renewed Conservative Party desperate to use the recession to crush resistance to wholesale cuts in public services, the working class needs champions.

Over the last year there has been a concerted effort by elements in the trade union movement to seek out alternatives, to find new champions of the class through electoral alliances and new workers' parties.

Whether these efforts will prove successful in the future or not, one thing remains clear - Labour or the Conservatives will form the next government.

And hoping to join the ranks in Parliament as a voice for working people is Brighton Pavilion Labour candidate Nancy Platts.

Sitting in a smart independent cafe in Brighton, she speaks with enthusiasm about the current struggle by local refuse collectors.

"I went down to the picket line to support GMB members on strike. Some of them are having their wages reduced from £18,500 to £11,000.

"If we end up with a Tory government this is the kind of thing we are all in for."

As a former executive member of feminist group the Fawcett Society, Platts is particularly outraged by how Tory councillors have used equal pay as the excuse to reduce predominantly male refuse collectors' wages to that of other lower-paid, often women council workers.

Understandably Platts is keen to engage in issues that specifically affect local constituents. But it is easy to draw a comparison with the struggles faced by people in Brighton and elsewhere in Britain.

"Affordable housing is key to people in Brighton. When Labour controlled the council 40 per cent was affordable," she says.

"Due to the high costs, people are forced to commute. This is another reason for a fully integrated rapid transit system to help commuters.

"Transport, housing and jobs have to be pulled together and tackled."

Platts cites increased competition between jobs between people with different skills as a key problem in Brighton.

For Platts, it is not enough simply to increase job opportunities but to increase the range of jobs to suit people from a wide range of backgrounds and skill sets.

"There are not enough graduate-level jobs, for instance. And this leads to those unemployed graduates occupying jobs which could be done by people without academic qualifications."

Well versed in practical policies to tackle immediate problems, Platts sees trade unions as key to informing Labour policy locally and nationally.

Star readers will be all too well aware of how new Labour, particularly under the premiership of Tony Blair, has sought to sideline unions over the last 12 years.

"I don't think this is right," says Platts. "We [the trade union movement] started off as the bedrock of the party and then the Labour leadership saw that they should be 'managed' as an interest group.

"The links have been weakened, but Labour remains a route into government for the union movement."

Platts has a great deal of personal experience with the trade union movement, both when she worked for the fire service and for rail union TSSA.

Although she describes the Thatcher period as "devastating for working people," she reveals that it spurred her on to follow her convictions and to serve the movement.

All this explains her emphatic support for the People's Charter and the repeal of all anti-trade union laws.

And with over a decade's worth of experience in a transport union, Platts is four-square behind calls for renationalisation of the railways.

"It is not only Labour Party policy, but it is also very popular with the public," she says.

"We should also have public ownership of the buses. This would help cut CO2 emission, particularly if bus services were extended to rural areas. It would lead to fewer people using their cars."

Overall Platts is pleased with the efforts of the government on the environment but she expresses huge disappointment with the failure of the recent Copenhagen climate summit.

"We must continue to fight for a legally binding treaty that covers all nations," she says.

This awareness of the environment and how it is an issue for working people and not just interested intellectuals is particularly relevant considering the constituency she is standing in.

The Brighton Pavilion seat is likely to attract increasing media attention, not least as one of Platt's opponents is Green Party leader Caroline Lucas.

I put it to her that some on the left are calling for Lucas to be elected arguing that she would be a "fresh face" in Parliament.

Platts is unequivocal in her response.

"Labour or the Conservatives will form the next government. The Tories do not want another Labour Party MP, particularly as it is not clear how Caroline would vote in Parliament."

Platts also argues that the Greens have made the Brighton Pavilion seat about "getting a foot in the door of Parliament, not about the interests of the constituents."

But she stops short of saying anything stronger, declaring that she is "against negative campaigning."

For Platts, positive change comes from within and she is supportive of the Labour government on the introduction of the national minimum wage and better maternity rights for women.

However she sees no need for the national minimum wage to have differentials that mean some 16-year-olds are paid as little £3.80 an hour.

"I cannot see why we have the differential. It is the same job, so it should be at the same rate."

An advocate of international peace, Platts admits to doing a lot of "soul searching" after Blair took Britain to war in 2003.

"After much thought, I decided to stay and try to influence change within the party," she says.

Platts highlights two areas that she believes could help bring a Labour victory at the general election - moving away from the mantra that cuts are needed in public services and being more positive about achievements on anti-poverty initiatives.

The Labour Party was originally founded as "the parliamentary representation of working people in Parliament."

Capable individuals can and do make a contribution to advance the lot of the working class, but there is no substitute for collective activity. And it is vital that the trade union movement flexes its financial and political muscle to press the Labour government to challenge the dominance of capital.

Getting behind candidates like Platts is part of that process.