As anticipated, the first full meeting of Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana’s Your Party central executive committee (CEC) held on Sunday 8 March agreed “a targeted strategy for the English local elections”, with only a limited number of candidates using the official Your Party name on the ballot paper.
But the meeting also agreed to support other “independent socialist and community electoral initiatives”. To get support, candidates will need to campaign for “No-cuts People’s Budgets; Defence of public services; Democratic local government; Strong trade union involvement; [and] Opposition to austerity imposed by central government”, as the CEC Local Government Briefing Paper explained.
So while the CEC did not adopt the goal of Your Party being the registered party that reaches the Ofcom ‘fair media coverage’ threshold, it left the space open for candidates (including Your Party members) using one of the TUSC descriptions on the ballot paper to do so, on precisely such a fighting programme and with a clear socialist banner. If the threshold is reached, Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana will be offered the chance to feature in the media opportunities that TUSC would then be entitled to.
The possibility of getting a visible socialist presence in the national political debate around the May elections remains. But only if socialists act now!
The deadline to send in requests to use one of the TUSC descriptions is Saturday 28 March, with an application form available online. Visit tusc.org.uk
