Peter Taaffe, Socialist Party general secretary
Austerity rejected, photo Paul Mattsson (Click to enlarge)
The Con-Dem government suffered a crushing defeat in last Thursday's elections for local authorities and in the mayoral contests apart from London.
The Tories lost a total of 405 seats, the Liberal Democrats lost 336 seats, while Labour gained 823 seats.
The share of the vote put Labour at 38%, the Tories at 31% and the Liberal Democrats at 16%. Cameron cannot dismiss these results, as he has tried to do, as an example of 'mid-term blues', something which all governments experience.
The tide of opposition to the coalition's policies - particularly its programme of austerity and accompanying cuts - has shattered the legitimacy of Cameron and his partner in crime, Clegg.
Cameron even saw Labour councillors elected in his own rural backyard of Chipping Norton, where even the local burghers rose up against the Tories against the arbitrary imposition of the building of an unwanted local road.
Equally, the shattered and discredited Liberal Democrats were humiliated when a penguin - Professor Pongo, the disguise of a local climate activist - defeated a Liberal Democrat candidate in Edinburgh!
This anti-government tsunami seemed to sweep all before it, touching all corners of Britain. In Wales, Labour gained and the Welsh nationalists of Plaid Cymru - despite selecting a radical leader recently - lost out.
A Scottish National Party 'surge' - where they expected to win a majority in Glasgow City Council - never fully materialised. 'Murdochgate' probably politically damaged the SNP, with its leader, Alex Salmond, exposed as a collaborator - writing a regular column in the Scottish Sun - with the unspeakable Rupert Murdoch.
In the North, where the Tories are already an endangered species, the tide further eroded the few positions that they hold. In Liverpool, for instance, they came seventh in the mayoral contest!
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