The May local elections will be the first major electoral challenge for Keir Starmer’s Labour government. Already, there is huge anger at continued austerity and attacks on working-class people. The millions who go to the ballot box on 1 May – in dozens of county council elections – deserve the chance to vote for an anti-cuts, anti-war, socialist alternative.

The Socialist Party will be standing candidates as part of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC). Anyone prepared to stand by TUSC’s six core policies can use the banner, clearly identifying themselves as a trade unionist and socialist (see tusc.org.uk).

Doncaster campaign for a socialist mayor kicks off

Steve Merriman, Doncaster Socialist Party

Doncaster’s campaign for a socialist mayor was launched on 18 February at a public meeting addressed by Dave Nellist, the former workers’ MP on a worker’s wage, who is now chair of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC). As well as standing Socialist Party member Andy Hiles for mayor, TUSC will be standing several candidates in the May council elections too.

We have already spoken to hundreds of people out campaigning in the town centre. One Romanian man, who had mistakenly believed that a party called ‘Labour’ looked after the interests of the working class, was shocked by Labour’s withdrawal of pensioners’ winter fuel allowance and the withdrawal of foreign aid to fund wars, all while refusing to introduce a wealth tax that would raise £25 billion a year.

On one stall, 100% of those I met who had voted Labour last year grimaced and wholly agreed that Labour has betrayed the working class since coming to power. The Donny working man and woman definitely feel Sir Keir and chancellor Rachel Reeves are making ‘hard’ decisions that protect the well-off minority at the expense of the hard-pressed majority. “They will pay for it in the ballot box”, one said.

I also attended a Unite-organised protest outside Labour energy minister Ed Miliband’s Doncaster North constituency office, campaigning for the restoration of winter fuel payments. Retired Unite members wore dressing gowns, woolly hats and scarves, and carried hot water bottles to emphasise the vulnerable pensioners’ dilemma over heating or eating.

Miliband declined to meet us. His office was locked with lights off.

We built a bonfire of energy bills and chanted about a disingenuous government, a cowardly MP, a privileged knight of the realm, and Rachel ‘flexible with the facts on her CV’ Reeves.

Socialist Party members will be supporting the TUSC stand, fighting to make sure the people of Doncaster have the choice at the ballot box to vote for jobs, homes and services, and against racism.

North London by-election challenge to cutting Labour council

David Kaplan, Camden and Haringey Socialist Party

Haringey Labour council has agreed to hike council tax by 5%, and continues to cut services and attack its workers. Teachers are striking against class size increases and housing maintenance workers in Unite the Union are in a long-standing dispute with the council.

For years, the Labour council has been carrying out cuts demanded by the previous Tory government – amounting to around £143 million a year since 2010. Now, facing financial crisis, it has applied for ‘exceptional financial support’, worth up to £37 million, from the Labour government. But this comes with strings attached: it allows for capitalisation of council assets, and for extra borrowing.

The projected cumulative funding gap by 2029-30 is set to reach £121 million. The council needs to be fighting the government for more funding.

It should be setting a council budget based on need – one that maintains and restores vital services, and that can meet the demands of workers in the borough. For example, by paying the maintenance workers the estimated £6,000 they have lost through pay freezes over the last ten years.

That’s what the Socialist Party will be campaigning for in the St Ann’s ward by-election on 10 April. The by-election was called after the resignation of Labour councillor, Tammy Hymas, citing disagreements over cuts, green issues and the Labour council’s stance on Palestine. She also said that she had faced abuse and threats for being a transgender woman in politics.

• Socialist Party member David Kaplan will stand as part of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition

Nuneaton socialist election challenge to cut across support for the right

Josh Loveridge, Nuneaton Socialist Party

Britain First reared their ugly heads in Nuneaton at the start of March, attempting to capitalise on growing working-class anger and frustration. Their vitriolic rhetoric was loudly dispelled by the presence of several hundred counter-protesters, including many trade union activists and other local people, making it clear that their far-right ideology is not welcome in our town.

With placards held high reading “Jobs, homes and services, not racism”, we made clear that the issues facing working-class communities are caused by austerity and capitalist politicians acting in the interests of the bosses.

To support our message, we arranged our megaphone as an open public platform, which had contributions from Socialist Party members, trade unionists and others.

Far-right groups like Britain First, as well as the right-populist Reform UK, offer no solution to the problems facing working-class people. Their policies divide the working class in the service of the super-rich bosses.

The history of ex-mining towns like Nuneaton is proof that the working class is stronger together. The cycle of austerity and privatisation has left many in deindustrialised towns scared and angry, desperate to fight back. We need to organise that anger and discontent to fight for a working-class socialist alternative, cutting across support for the far right. That includes putting up a working-class alternative in elections.

Socialist Party members are standing in 12 wards in the Nuneaton and Bedworth area for the upcoming May council elections, as part of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition.