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Michael Lavalette during a Make Poverty History Rally.

Michael Lavalette (born 1962) is a British academic specialising in social work. He was a member of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) from 1981 until 2018, when he left to join Counterfire. He was a local councillor in Preston, Lancashire from 2003 to 2014.

Until retirement he was the Everton Professor of Social and Community Engagement^[1] at Liverpool Hope University, formerly having worked at both Liverpool and Central Lancashire universities. He is now Emeritus Professor at Liverpool Hope University and a visiting professor at the University of Bethlehem and the University of West Attica, Athens.

Academic career and social work activism

Along with Chris Jones, Iain Feguson, and Laura Penketh, he was an author of the Social Work manifesto for a new engaged practice^[2]^[3] and organiser of the Liverpool and Glasgow conferences of the Social Work Action Network (SWAN), which stands in the radical social work tradition and seeks to oppose managerialism and privatisation within the social work profession, and to promote social work practice based on principles of social justice.^[4] At the end of 2008 the Social Work Action Network ran a campaign defending social workers in the aftermath of the Baby P tragedy.^[5]^{[non-primary source needed]} Shortly after, along with Iain Ferguson, he wrote a polemical pamphlet called 'Social Work After Baby P' that included contributions from academics, practitioners and senior trade union officers.^[6]^{[non-primary source needed]}During the COVID pandemic, Lavalette was instrumental in setting up SWANI (Social Work Action Network International) that brought activist groups together from across the globe.

In terms of academic output he is the author, joint author or editor of 30 books and pamphlets ^[7]

In March 2021 he was awarded Honorary membership of the Palestinian Writers Union in recognition of his writing on, and activism with, Palestinian groups in Britain and the West Bank ^[8]

Political activism

Lavalette originally joined his local Labour Party in North Ayrshire at the age of 16 in 1979, but by January 1981 he had left to join the SWP. In the early 1990s he moved to Preston for work and became politically active in the local labour movement.^{[citation needed]}

In Preston he was the co-ordinator of the local Stop the War Coalition. He organised a solidarity day in Preston for victims of the Asian Tsunami and has led campaigns against hospital privatisation, Islamophobia, the wars in the Middle East and support for local trade unionists on strike.^{[citation needed]} A common theme in his political work has been solidarity with the Palestinian liberation struggle. He was involved in a campaign to twin Glasgow University with Beir Zeit University in 1982. In 2003, as a councillor, he led a campaign to twin Preston with Nablus. In 2004 he led a delegation of 34 people from Preston to the West Bank, where the group were the last ever international group to meet President Arafat ^[9]

He was first elected as a Socialist Alliance candidate shortly after the Iraq War began in 2003. In 2007, he was re-elected, this time standing for the Respect Party. In the Respect split in 2007 he remained loyal to the SWP and broke with George Galloway.^[10] In 2007, he led a campaign against academy schools in Preston.^[11]^[12] In December 2010, Lavalette proposed a motion to Preston City Council calling for opposition to cuts, job losses and privatisations. The motion had the backing of the local trades council and of Preston Against Cuts. Five Labour councillors had voted and spoken in favour of this motion at these meetings. Socialist Worker reported that when it came to the full council meeting however, all the Labour councillors voted against this motion, and for an amendment supporting 'fairer' cuts backed by the Liberals and Tories.^[13]

He held his seat until May 2011, when he lost it to Labour.^{[citation needed]} He was re-elected in 2012 as an independent socialist, backed by the SWP.^[14] He was active in Unite Against Fascism's campaign against the English Defence League locally.^[15] He was affiliated with Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC)^[16] until he retired from his seat in 2015.^{[citation needed]}

In 2018 he^[when?] left the SWP and joined the revolutionary socialist organisation Counterfire.^[17]

In 2024, he was active in opposition to Israel's actions in the 2023 Israel-Hamas war.^[18] in the General Election in July 2024 he stood as part of the pro-Palestine ‘Independent Network’. He came second to Labour, securing just over 21 per cent of the vote.

Lavalette regularly contributes to the Lancashire Evening Post.^{[citation needed]}

Electoral history

2003 Local Election

Lavalette stood in the Preston City Council Elections: Town Centre Ward 2003 as a Socialist Alliance Against the War candidate. George Galloway was alleged to have backed Michael Lavalette in this election, which was one of the charges that led to George Galloway being expelled from the Labour Party.^[19] He came first with 546 votes, 37.81%, unseating the Labour Party, whose candidate Musa Ahmed Jiwa came second with 440 votes. The turnout was 1,444 (28%).

2004 European Election

In 2004 he was the lead candidate in the Respect list for the 2004 European Election in the North West England region. Respect came ninth, with 24,636 votes (1.2%) and none of its candidates were elected.

2005 General Election

In the 2005 United Kingdom general election, he stood as a Respect candidate in Preston coming fourth with 2,318 votes, 6.8% of the vote, saving his deposit. Labour's Mark Hendrick won with 17,210 votes (50.5%).^[20]

2007 Local Election

Lavalette kept his council seat, Preston Town Centre, with 1179 votes (more than 52%) increasing his majority by over 19%.^[21]

Preston City Council Elections: Town Centre ward 2007
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Respect	Michael Lavalette	1,179	52.3	+14.2
	Labour	Salim Desai	717	31.8	+1.1
	Liberal Democrats	Helen Greaves	206	9.2	−6.1
	Conservative	Susan Horn	87	3.9	−12.0
	Green	Rupert Wadsworth	63	2.8	N/A
Majority			462	20.45	+19.11
Rejected ballots			7
Turnout			2,259	46.4
	Respect hold		Swing

2011 Local Election

In May 2011 he lost his seat to Labour. He stood as a Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition candidate because the SWP had left Respect in 2007 and since joined TUSC.^{[citation needed]}

Preston City Council Elections: Town Centre ward, 2011
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Yakub Patel	964	45.7	+13.9
	TUSC	Michael Lavalette	840	39.8	−12.5
	Conservative	Jonathan Cooper	305	14.5	+10.6
Majority			124	5.9
Rejected ballots			17
Turnout			2,109	38.9
	Labour gain from TUSC		Swing

2012 Local Election

Lavalette successfully stood as an independent in 2012, again in Town Centre ward.

Preston City Council Elections: Town Centre ward 2012
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Michael Lavalette	967	48.5	N/A
	Labour	Salim Desai	872	43.8	+2.9
	Conservative	David Treasure	154	7.7	−5.2
Majority			95
Turnout			1,993
	Independent gain from Labour		Swing

2024 general election

In March 2024, Blog Preston and Counterfire reported that Lavalette would stand as an independent candidate for Preston in the next general election as a part of the No Ceasefire, No Vote movement.^[17]^[22]

At election hustings organised by the local press in June 2024, candidates were asked if he would denounce Hamas "as a terrorist organisation", he answered no; asked whether he would instead denounce the actions of Hamas on 7 October 2023, he again said no: "You had the right to resist in the Second World War and the French Resistance [and also] the Yugoslav resistance, the Italian resistance, the Greek resistance – and the Palestinians have the right to fight against their own dispossession... history did not start on [7 October]". He referred to attacks on Palestinians, including one in Huwara in 2023 in which he said people were "burnt out [of] their homes": "There’s a context to all this."^[23] Writing in June 2024, Lavalette said he had significant support in the Muslim community, but also among white working class people.^[24]

2024 general election: Preston
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Mark Hendrick	14,006	35.0	−22.3
	Independent	Michael Lavalette	8,715	21.8	+21.8
	Reform UK	James Elliot	5,738	14.3	+10.1
	Liberal Democrats	Neil Darby	3,195	8.0	+1.2
Majority
Turnout			40,132	51.9	−7.60

Published works

The Forgotten Workforce: Scottish Children at Work (1991) (Glasgow, Scottish Low Pay Unit) ISBN 1 872466 01 X
Child employment in the capitalist labour market (1994) (Aldershot, Ashgate) ISBN 1 85628 600 2
Solidarity on the waterfront: the Liverpool lock out of 1995/96 (with Jane Kennedy) (1996) (Liverpool, Liver Press) ISBN 1 871 201 06 3
Social policy: a conceptual and theoretical introduction (edited with Alan Pratt) (1996) (London, Sage) ISBN 0-803-97532-5
Anti-racism and social welfare (edited with Laura Penketh and Chris Jones) (1998) (Aldershot, Ashgate) ISBN 1-84014-507-2
A thing of the past?: child labour in Britain in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries (editor) (1999) (Liverpool, Liverpool University Press) ISBN 0-312-21811-7
Child labor: a world history companion (with Sandy Hobbs and Jim McKechnie) (1999) (New York, ABC-CLIO) ISBN 0-87436-956-8
Class struggle and social welfare (edited with Gerry Mooney) (2000) (London, Routledge) ISBN 0415201047
Social Policy: A conceptual and theoretical introduction (second edition) (Edited with Alan Pratt) (2001) (London, Sage) ISBN 0-7619-6952-7
Leadership and social movements (edited with Colin Barker and Alan Johnson) (Manchester, MUP) (2001) ISBN 0-7190-5902-X
Rethinking social welfare: a critical perspective (with Iain Ferguson and Gerry Mooney) (2002) (London, Sage) ISBN 0-7619-6417-7
Children, welfare and the state (edited with Barry Goldson and Jim McKechnie) (2002) (London, Sage) ISBN 0761972331
A Palestine Journey; Respect For Palestine (pamphlet)
Globalisation, global justice and social work (edited with Iain Ferguson and Elizabeth Whitmore) (2005) (London, Sage) ISBN 0415325382
Social Policy: Theories, concepts and issues (Third Edition) (Edited with Alan Pratt) (2006) (London, Sage) ISBN 1-4129-0170-7
George Lansbury and the rebel councillors of Poplar (foreword by George Galloway) (2006) (London, Bookmarks) ISBN 1-898877-44-0
International Social Work and the Radical Tradition (edited with Iain Ferguson) (2007) (Birmingham, Venture Press) ISBN 978-1-86178-076-8
Social Work After Baby P: Issues debates and Alternative Perspectives(Edited with Iain Ferguson) (2009) (Liverpool, Liverpool Hope University Press) ISBN 978-1-898749-02-8
Radical Social Work Today (Editor) (2011) (Bristol, Policy Press) ISBN 9781847428172
Social Work in Extremis (edited with Vassilios Ioakimidis) (2011) (Bristol, Policy Press) ISBN 978-1-84742-718-2
Voices From the West Bank (with Chris Jones) (2011) (London, Bookmarks) ISBN 978-1-905192-82-3
Capitalism and Sport: Politics, Protest, People and Play (editor) (2013) (London, Bookmarks) ISBN 978-1909026308