All Campaigns subcategories:
Election campaigns keywords:
Tusc
Highlight keywords |
Print this article
Search site for keywords: TUSC - Cuts - Council - Waltham Abbey - Labour - Essex - Basildon - Harlow - Loughton - Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition - Elections - Council elections
Why I'm standing for TUSC - cuts to vital services have to stop
Ian Pattison (Click to enlarge)
Ian Pattison, TUSC candidate for Waltham Abbey
The Tories in Essex County Council want to cut £46 million from public services. There's nothing left to cut!
It wouldn't be any different if Labour got in. Labour control three district councils in Essex - Basildon, Colchester, and Harlow. And they have been passing on Tory cuts for a decade. Waltham Abbey library could be next on the chopping block.
Labour refused to oppose the Tories' 1.5% council tax hike. We can't afford that! Meanwhile the Tories are pretending this council tax rise isn't happening.
The bus services in Waltham Abbey are too expensive, and Sunday services are run by a different company that won't accept our weekly ticket, forcing us to pay again. Why do we have to fork out again for an unreliable service?
Who does this hit the most? Key workers who work at the weekend and people who want to see their families, just so private companies can make more profit. The councils in Essex and Epping Forest should step in to stop this happening, or run the service themselves.
And like many parents, I'm struggling to find a nursery place for my child. The cuts to vital services have to stop. That's why we're standing Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) candidates in the Essex County Council elections. Socialist Party members Scott Jones, Paul Lenihan and Dave Murray are standing in Buckhurst Hill and Loughton South, Harlow South, and Basildon Westleigh Heights respectively, and I'm standing in Waltham Abbey. If elected, we will vote against all cuts and council tax rises.
The Tory government has spent £280 billion during the Covid pandemic. It shows the money is there. But we have to stand up to the Tories and Labour to fight for the funding our local community needs.
The far-right 'For Britain' party is also standing against us. Some would say TUSC shouldn't stand, in case we split the vote and let the far right in. But this racist group already occupies a seat in the poorest part of Waltham Abbey.
This area would have traditionally been Labour, but working-class people no longer trust it. Only our message of working-class unity for jobs, homes and services for all can undermine the far right's support.
There's another very local issue on my street. A landowner has blocked off the public footpath to the woods behind our houses. We're demanding the council reopen it. Working-class residents should democratically make decisions on issues like this, including saying 'no more cuts'.
Donate to the Socialist Party
Finance appeal
The coronavirus crisis has laid bare the class character of society in numerous ways. It is making clear to many that it is the working class that keeps society running, not the CEOs of major corporations.
The results of austerity have been graphically demonstrated as public services strain to cope with the crisis.
The government has now ripped up its 'austerity' mantra and turned to policies that not long ago were denounced as socialist. But after the corona crisis, it will try to make the working class pay for it, by trying to claw back what has been given.
- The Socialist Party's material is more vital than ever, so we can continue to report from workers who are fighting for better health and safety measures, against layoffs, for adequate staffing levels, etc.
- When the health crisis subsides, we must be ready for the stormy events ahead and the need to arm workers' movements with a socialist programme - one which puts the health and needs of humanity before the profits of a few.
Inevitably, during the crisis we have not been able to sell the Socialist and raise funds in the ways we normally would.
We therefore urgently appeal to all our viewers to donate to our Fighting Fund.
LATEST POSTS
12 May Stop Israeli state brutality
 |
9 May Post-election meetings
15 May Birmingham Socialist Party: How can we fight for socialist change and a new workers' party?
17 May Oxfordshire & Aylesbury Socialist Party: The role of the state
18 May Bristol North Socialist Party: Liverpool - history of socialist struggle
CONTACT US
Phone our national office on 020 8988 8777
Email: [email protected]
Locate your nearest Socialist Party branch Text your name and postcode to 07761 818 206
Regional Socialist Party organisers:
Eastern: 079 8202 1969
East Mids: 077 3797 8057
London: 075 4018 9052
North East: 078 4114 4890
North West 079 5437 6096
South West: 077 5979 6478
Southern: 078 3368 1910
Wales: 079 3539 1947
West Mids: 024 7655 5620
Yorkshire: 078 0983 9793
ABOUT US
ARCHIVE
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999