Becci Heagney, TUSC candidate, Stoneygate, Leicester
Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) candidates are standing as part of an alliance with candidates from Unity for Peace and Socialism in Leicester called ‘Vote Against Cuts’.
All 13 candidates, plus one candidate who is standing for Leicester’s first elected mayor, have signed a pledge to vote against all cuts.
A public meeting to launch the alliance was attended by over 40 people. The speakers spelt out the massive effects that the Con-Dem attacks will have on ordinary people and raised alternatives to the cuts, such as closing tax loop-holes.
In Leicester, we are faced with a Labour council which is passing on the Tory cuts to our city.
Vote Against Cuts wrote to every councillor before we decided to stand in the local elections, asking them the direct question: will you vote for cuts? Only two replied and both argued they had no choice but to vote for cuts.
The members of the public who came along to the meeting greatly supported our cause, giving generous donations to help with the cost of leaflets and offering to put posters in their windows and leaflet their streets.
Many are completely disillusioned with the three main parties and are desperately looking for a real alternative that will stand up for ordinary people.
TUSC candidates in Leicester, as part of Vote Against Cuts, can be that alternative.
