Over 100 candidates agreed for TUSC stand
The TUSC steering committee has approved over 100 applications from candidates for the 1 May local elections. Hundreds of thousands will get the opportunity to vote for a working-class socialist alternative to Starmer’s cuts, signposting towards the mass working-class political party needed.
- Find out more tusc.org.uk
Harnessing anger at Labour in Doncaster
“Reform predicted to take control of Doncaster Council in Labour wipe-out”, ran the headline in the Doncaster Free Press after a poll forecast Reform to get 32 councillors to Labour’s 13 in May.
Labour wipeout yes, due to the anger and hatred towards this Labour government, especially after its cuts to the winter fuel allowance, and now disability benefits. But whilst campaigning out in Doncaster town centre, Socialist Party members have not detected strong support for Reform either. It’s been said that their support is ‘a mile wide but only an inch deep’.
However, revulsion at Reform’s anti-migrant, racist rhetoric is definitely politicising people, especially young people, who want to get active to counter them. Seven college students signed up to find out more info in two visits to the college last week, and five young people signed up on the last Saturday campaign stalls.
Stacy, who we met out campaigning four weeks ago, is now one of TUSC’s 11 council election candidates, supporting Socialist Party member, trade unionist and ‘benefits advice buddy’ Andy Hiles, who is standing as TUSC candidate for mayor.
Many local activists, realising that it’s not enough to just say “don’t vote for Reform because they are racist” have rallied to TUSC’s socialist stand. Needing 30 nominations for mayor, Andy got 40, including four former Care UK strikers. Significantly, two ex-Labour councillors, one of whom, Tosh McDonald, is former president of train drivers’ union Aslef, resigned in disgust from Starmer’s Labour in 2021 to finish their terms as independents, and are standing as “Independent Trade Unionist and Socialist candidates” in Town ward.
Alistair Tice
Wrexham councillor resigns from Labour and joins TUSC
Anthony Wedlake, a Wrexham county borough councillor for Coedpoeth and formerly a Labour councillor, said: “I cannot in all conscience remain a member of a party that attacks the working class.
“I believe that we need a new party of the working class that will stand up for the rights of working people and fight the austerity policies of all the other parties: Labour, Tory, Plaid and of course Reform – all of whom would cut spending on services for working people while the richest 1% amass colossal wealth. That is why I will be sitting as a Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition councillor”.
I’m standing for TUSC to give the working class a voice
I’ve never stood in any election before. A few years ago I would have thought the idea was crazy. But considering the state of the world we’re living in, it’s about time we stood up to the bosses and politicians that make life hell for working-class people.
Already in our campaigning we’ve seen firsthand the anger from the general public towards their lot. People are fed up with mealy-mouthed politicians; it’s time for real change.
TUSC is a working-class alliance that is fighting against privatisation, tax rises, and job losses in local government and beyond. Its candidates stand in solidarity with all oppressed groups, and campaign to put the money generated by workers towards what we really want – protection and benefits for vulnerable people, rather than imperialist wars abroad.
County councils have power over many important aspects of our lives, and this should be put to good use. Take education for example: despite the UK having the sixth largest economy in the world, our teachers are having to pay for school supplies out of their own paycheques, and uni students are skipping meals in order to make rent. We need councillors who will fund and expand education services, not cut them.
Instead of catering to private housing contractors, we need to build eco-friendly, affordable council houses for all. We need to re-nationalise all forms of local transport, but not just to put these services in the hands of a capitalist government – nationalisation has to be paired with genuine democratic control, so these services can be planned to cater for our needs.
Under Starmer’s Labour government our taxes are rising… and yet social services and benefits are being cut. So ask yourself: what is your tax money really going towards? Is it being put towards those who need the money most, or just lining the pockets of the richest 1%?
People are so used to their cries being ignored that many have given up entirely. But by standing we are showing that all hope is not lost and there is an alternative at the ballot box. By standing we hope to point the way forward towards a new workers’ party that can fight for socialist change and give the working class a voice.
Billy Jones, TUSC candidate for St Mark’s & St Peter’s, Gloucestershire County Council
