THE Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) has agreed candidates for forthcoming council by-elections in Plymouth (polling day, 27th June) and Brighton (11th July), running alongside the previously announced by-election campaigns in Newcastle (this Thursday), Southampton (13th June), and Salford (20th June).
The Brighton by-election follows the resignation of the sitting Green Party councillor for the Hanover and Elm Grove ward.
The contest will be taking place against the backdrop of a dispute between the Green Party leadership of the city council and the council workforce over cuts to terms and conditions.
A local TUSC meeting last week agreed to nominate the secretary of Brighton Trades Council Phil Clarke, who is also the secretary of the Lewes, Eastbourne and Wealden National Union of Teachers (NUT) Association, to offer a trade unionist and socialist candidate who will really resist the cuts.
The TUSC candidate in Plymouth council’s Southway ward is a young member of the local Unite union community branch, Ryan Aldred – a former participant in the Occupy movement and recently elected as a delegate to the Plymouth Trades Council.
Meanwhile, the by-election in Salford council’s Weaste and Seedley ward is being fought for TUSC by Terry Simmons, a member of the Little Hulton and Walkden Anti-Bedroom Tax campaign.
Southampton’s Woolston ward TUSC candidate, Sue Atkins, is being backed by ‘rebel councillors’, Keith Morrell and Don Thomas, expelled from the Labour Party last year for opposing cuts to council jobs and services (see https://www.tusc.org.uk/press150513.php ).
And on Thursday TUSC will have a candidate, Bobbie Cranny, one of the participants in the 2011 Youth Fight For Jobs Jarrow March, in Newcastle council’s Walkergate ward by-election.
Congratulations are due to them all for being prepared to stand up against the establishment parties. After all, how else can an electoral alternative to austerity be built unless working class people are prepared to stand in elections?
Would you consider standing?
This May’s local elections saw the votes cast for candidates standing under the TUSC umbrella pass the 100,000 mark since its formation in 2010. Still a modest number – but one to build on.
Would you consider standing? Candidates standing under the TUSC banner have to endorse the ‘no cuts’ local elections policy platform (see https://www.tusc.org.uk/policy.php ) but with that provision they have autonomy to run their own campaigns.
If there is a by-election in your area and you wish to stand as a TUSC candidate, you need to get a Certificate of Authorisation from the TUSC National Nominating Officer to hand in with the nomination papers to the local council returning officer.
An application form is available at https://www.tusc.org.uk/candidates.php When an opportunity arises to put a socialist anti-austerity case, why shouldn’t it be taken?
Donate to TUSC’s election campaigns
There’s no election deposit to pay to stand in a local council election. But campaign material still has to be paid for and, of course, no one can anticipate when a by-election is going to happen.
Could you help the campaigns in Brighton, Southampton, Salford or Plymouth – or any other by-elections that may come up – by making a donation to the TUSC national election fund?
There’s a PayPal facility on the TUSC website (at https://www.tusc.org.uk/donate.php ) or you can send cheques, made payable to the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition, to TUSC, 17 Colebert House, Colebert Avenue, London, E1 4JP, letting us know if you want your donation to go to a particular campaign.