Alistair Tice, Sheffield Socialist Party

The collapse of the Labour vote in the Woodhouse council by-election in Sheffield was striking, falling by two thirds since May. It reflected the anger, and often visceral hatred, towards Keir Starmer, Rachel Reeves, and “Labour isn’t Labour anymore”, particularly over the cuts to the winter fuel allowance.

It was only the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC), which the Socialist Party is part of, that took a petition to the November city council meeting, demanding that they use the Household Support Fund to restore the allowance to 75,000 pensioners in Sheffield.

Labour lost the seat. But Sheffield Socialist Party is pleased and relieved that Reform UK did not win.

However, the addition of another Lib Dem councillor will do nothing to stop the council cuts. They are part of the unofficial ‘collaborative council’, along with Labour and the Greens.

This by-election became very contested between Labour, Lib Dems, and Reform, who tapped into disillusionment with all the establishment parties, and slogans about “putting ‘our’ people first”, and “Make Britain Great Again”.

Voters wanted to punish Labour. The Lib Dem vote went up from 6% in May, to 33%, and Reform also got 33%, having not stood previously.

Despite our campaign of 12,000 leaflets and 15 campaign stalls, and the positive responses we got in so many conversations, of all the ways people chose to express their disgust at Labour, just 2% voted for TUSC candidate Josh Crapper.

We got positive feedback for our socialist policies and campaign, but our vote definitely suffers from not having a national profile, unlike the other parties. This highlights the urgent need for the establishment of a new mass workers’ party by the trade unions.

The Reform vote must sound alarm bells for the workers’ movement. The Socialist Party welcomes Sheffield Trades Union Council recently establishing its anti-racist/anti-fascist committee, to challenge the far right in the workplace and on the streets.

And we welcome trades council support for a People’s Budget – first proposed by a Socialist Party member through their Unite trade union branch – as a working-class alternative to the ‘collaborative’ council continuing Tory/Labour cuts.

Such a People’s Budget can be the starting point for a positive anti-austerity programme around which trade unionists, community campaigners, and socialists can put up a challenge at the ballot box.