Andrew White, TUSC Candidate for Moor View Plymouth
I’m standing as a Socialist Party member for the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) on Thursday 12 January. Two local government by-elections have been triggered in Plymouth as two Tories resigned after it was discovered that both had moved 150 miles away to live and work, essentially vacating their seats.
As an NHS worker I’ve seen the cuts made by the Tories in the last 13 years first hand, decimating public services and overworking the staff in already difficult situations. I’ve been proud to stand on the picket line with nurses in the RCN as they took strike action and I fully support ambulance staff doing the same. The same can’t be said of our local Labour MP who hasn’t been on a single picket since this wave of strike action began in the summer. This hasn’t gone unnoticed, particularly by striking rail and postal workers.
At Plymouth City Council, successive Tory and Labour administrations have made over £90 million in cuts since 2014 with a proposal for a further £37 million (nearly 20% of the annual budget) to be axed this February. We can’t afford these cuts and we certainly can’t afford the year-on-year hiking of council tax, making us pay more for less.
We need councillors who are going to defend our public services and stand up to austerity, stopping the cuts now with reserves and borrowing powers and building a movement to demand the funding we need. We need our bus services brought back into public control, we need investment in community centres and youth centres, and we need to defend council jobs.
It’s clear speaking to people on the doorsteps that there is a desperate need for an alternative. I’m standing for TUSC on 12 January to provide a socialist alternative to the axe wielders, whether they’re from Starmer’s Labour or Sunak’s Tories.
