Labour’s English Devolution White Paper, published in mid-December, proposed a wholesale re-organisation of local government, signalling its intent to merge many district councils into larger, less accountable, single bodies – known as unitary authorities – and increase the number of directly elected mayors. It also gave the option to county councils facing elections in May this year to apply to postpone those contests if they could show they could carry out reorganisation plans by 2026. 18 local authorities have applied to the government for permission to delay elections.
‘Don’t hold back, send your TUSC candidate application forms now’
“Exactly which English local council elections will go ahead on Thursday 1 May is still unclear at this point”, says the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) national election agent, Clive Heemskerk, responding to the government announcement on 15 January about the fate of May’s polls. TUSC is the electoral coalition in which the Socialist Party takes part.
But, he adds, anyone considering standing against the establishment parties in any of the 31 councils originally scheduled for elections this year, who wants to use one of the TUSC descriptions on their ballot paper, “shouldn’t hold back from sending in their TUSC candidate application form” as soon as possible.
“Larger, more remote councils are favoured by both the Blairite New Labour Party and the Tories”, says Clive, “because it fits with their aim to weaken local democratic accountability”.
“People living in towns and cities like, for example, Exeter, Basildon, Worcester, Crawley or Norwich – which currently hold district council elections every year, for one-third of the seats each time, and a county election in the fourth year – will only have a vote for who controls their local public services once every four years under the White Paper plans”.
“Both parties also admire the American model, of ‘big personality’ mayors only lightly supervised by elected ‘boards’ and handing out contracts for public services to private providers”.
“With such arrangements, it’s far easier to take unpopular decisions to cut or privatise services – or to favour special business interests – than to win support for austerity pro-business policies among a wider group of regularly elected councillors, who have to justify themselves to local people”.
What happens now?
Not surprisingly, at least 15 Tory-controlled county councils (and the Liberal Democrat-led Oxfordshire one) asked to cancel elections by the 10 January deadline, despite Tory shadow cabinet member Robert Jenrick saying before Christmas that “elections should only be postponed in truly exceptional circumstances… Maybe Labour don’t want to face the electorate?”.
Now it is for the Starmer government to decide whether to table, for each particular council, the necessary ‘order in parliament’ – known as statutory instruments – to allow a scheduled election not to go ahead, which must be done by mid-February at the latest. And for MPs to decide to challenge them or not, which even an individual backbencher can do.
Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition
TUSC was set up to enable working-class fighters, trade unionists, community campaigners, anti-war or climate activists, and socialists from different parties or none, to stand in elections using a ballot paper description that gives a clearer indicator of their politics than just the bare label of ‘Independent’ – the only description that candidates are legally allowed to use unless they are supported by a political party registered with the Electoral Commission.
The only qualification for candidates who wish to use the TUSC name, or any other of the eight descriptions it has registered with the Electoral Commission, is that they have to endorse the TUSC core policies platform for the relevant election. These are a list of minimum commitments that voters could expect from someone elected using the TUSC banner – while leaving room for every candidate to keep control of their own campaigns. These include opposing all council cuts and closures and to reject council tax, rent, service and other charge increases.
Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition conference
The TUSC conference will be held on Zoom on Sunday 2 February from 11am-1:30pm. It has the heading ‘Fighting for a new party under the Starmer government. And what role for TUSC?’ as the need for a working-class political alternative to the Tory-lite New Labour government becomes clearer by the day.
The event will also include a discussion on how to achieve the biggest possible socialist challenge at the first widescale electoral test of the new government, the local elections to be held in May 2025.
To register to attend the conference click here: bit.ly/TUSC25conf
