Councils of all stripes have spent the last decade and a half implementing the austerity demanded by Tory-led governments. Now Keir Starmer’s Labour has taken the reins and its more of the same. Working-class people across the country have seen council tax rises, services cut and – as the massive Birmingham bin strike has highlighted – workers expected to take pay cuts.
Socialist Party members are standing in the local elections this year as part of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) – the sixth largest stand. TUSC brings together socialists, trade unionists, campaigners and others. These candidates don’t accept that there is no alternative to endless cuts. They are standing on a platform of no cuts, for needs-based budgets and building mass, working-class campaigns with the local unions and community groups to win the resources required for the public services we need.
Is Reform UK on the side of workers?
Adam Harmsworth, Coventry Socialist Party
Starmer’s Labour’s ten months in power has brought no positive change for the majority of people. Many will wonder if there even was an election, because Labour is acting just like the Tories.
Looking for a means to strike out at Labour and Tories in the local elections on 1 May, some working-class people will vote Reform. Nigel Farage’s latest party took 4.1 million votes in the general election, winning five MPs. Ever since, it’s been high in opinion polls. On picket lines I’ve been on, some trade unionists have expressed support for them.
When Labour stopped short of nationalising Scunthorpe steelworks, Farage called for it to be nationalised. But he made clear that, in his view, instead of it being run for the benefit of workers it should be sold on to the next buyer – for a new mega-rich billionaire to extract profit from the workforce.
Farage sometimes poses as ‘a friend of the working class’. But while working-class communities are reeling after years of austerity, Reform has pledged to reduce spending by £150 billion, another round of brutal austerity. At its local election launch in March, Farage criticised Starmer’s disability benefit cuts… for not going far or fast enough!
The selling off of the NHS by Labour and Tory governments has been a catastrophe, but companies have made billions of pounds from it. Reform explicitly calls for further NHS privatisation. Privatisation on steroids won’t improve the service for us, just the bank balances of private health providers. Farage has said he is open to exploring all options for the NHS, including ending the free and universal model we have now.
Reform is funded by bankers, CEOs and millionaires who all believe Reform will work for them as the Tories did for so long. Many former Tory donors have switched to Reform. They are the establishment’s ‘anti-establishment’ party, acting in the interests of the super-rich and trying to pass it off as ‘common sense policies’. In reality, their politics are more like ‘common sense’ for big business and disastrous for the rest of us.
Many of us worry about not finding a job, NHS waiting lists, housing waiting lists and more overstretched council services. Reform pledges to cut migration, but they want to slash our services too, leaving all workers worse off.
In the run-up to last year’s election, Farage called Reform “a brand new conservative movement”. Workers don’t need a new movement that will champion the horrors of the last fifteen years of Conservative government. Workers need a party that acts in their interests, not flooded with bankers’ bribes. Vote TUSC where it’s on the ballot, and help us build the mass workers’ party that we need to actually challenge the establishment.
What about the Green Party?
Oscar Parry, Camden and Haringey Socialist Party
Another major beneficiary of Starmer’s pro-big business policies this election is likely to be the Green Party. Many voters will put a cross next to the Greens expecting a change from the pro-austerity policies of the rest of the main parties. But will electing Green councillors make a difference for working-class people?
There are already over 800 Green councillors. And the Green Party says it is opposed to austerity. But these councillors aren’t using the position to help mobilise the fight-back for the funds our communities need. Instead they parrot the line that councils have no choice but to pass on cuts.
The Greens became the largest party on Bristol council last year, promising change after years of service cuts under Labour. What has this meant for Bristol? £50 million more cuts! Councillors repeatedly spoke of the collaboration between parties in the budget process, congratulating themselves for bringing together a ‘broad church’ of different ideologies. It’s hardly a wide array of opinions when they’re united in cuts and devastating the most vulnerable with cuts to domestic violence services, bin collections and more. Similarly, while in power twice in Brighton, the Green council passed the cuts onto local residents’ vital public services and faced strike action from bin workers twice.
Socialist Party members standing as part of TUSC will work with anyone who is opposed to the cuts and willing to build the fight against them. If this includes Green councillors, we will work alongside them to fight back against Labour austerity. Working-class people can fight back and win – a new mass party representing the working class would be a massive step forward in this fight.
Why we’re standing for TUSC
“I’m Myles, an Exeter local and member of Unite Community. And I am standing with TUSC because its time we said no to cuts, no to career politicians, and no to the rampant inequality we see in Exeter today.
I have seen first hand the damage austerity has done to our streets, we all have. Rising homelessness, worsening education, rising NHS wait times, and the lack of housing meaning families having to wait at least seven years for social housing.
In this election I pledge to stand on the side of the working class, for our communities, schools, and services. Together, we can build an Exeter that works for everyone, not just the wealthy few.”
Myles Hatcher, TUSC candidate for Devon County Council
If you have the chance, use your vote in these local elections to support a no-cuts, working-class challenge with the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition. And if you can’t, get in touch to help build a fighting alternative in future elections, standing yourself or helping us to campaign.
- Find out more visit: tusc.org.uk
