“This is a rich country, the fifth richest on the planet. It’s just that the wealth is in the wrong hands – in the hands of a few millionaires and billionaires. TUSC is the only unashamedly socialist party in these elections.”
These were the words of former Labour MP Dave Nellist at the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition’s manifesto launch on 10 April in London’s banking heartland, Canary Wharf, which Dave described as “the belly of the beast”.
Hugo Pierre, TUSC candidate for the local Poplar and Limehouse constituency, said: “It’s the biggest casino in the world, these people gamble with our money every day.
Desperate
“You only have to go half a mile down the road and you see desperate housing conditions – it’s the most overcrowded borough in London.”
Dave, who is TUSC’s national chair, said that whatever mix of parties form the next government, austerity continues. “Only TUSC is 100% against austerity.”
The TUSC five-point pledge shows how it would use society’s wealth.
The TUSC five-point pledge
- 1 End cuts and austerity. For a democratic socialist society run in the interests of the millions not the billionaires
- 2 Trade union rights to fight low pay. £10 an hour minimum wage now, scrap zero-hour contracts
- 3 A mass council home building programme and immediate introduction of rent controls
- 4 Scrap student fees. Free education as a right for all
- 5 For democratic public ownership of our NHS, railways, public services, utilities and banks