The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) has 78 candidates standing in Thursday’s local council elections, contesting seats across 24 local authorities in England, Scotland and Wales.
TUSC is also standing in two of the mayoral elections taking place on May 4th, with the former Unison national executive member Roger Bannister contesting the new Liverpool City Region ‘Metro-Mayor’ position and NHS worker Steve Williams standing for the mayor of Doncaster. A full list of all the TUSC candidates can be found at https://www.tusc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/398.pdf
The general election, called after the local elections were already under way, has obviously cut across the council contests. Driving the Tories out on June 8th and the election of a Corbyn-led Labour government will clearly create the best conditions to defend local public services. But every TUSC vote on Thursday will be an early declaration of support for Jeremy Corbyn’s anti-austerity policies – policies that are being attacked relentlessly not just by the Tories but by Labour’s right-wing Blairites too.
And as the former Labour MP and TUSC national chairperson Dave Nellist said when the general election was called, the TUSC local election campaigns “will also lay the groundwork for building the support Jeremy will need against the capitalist establishment, including the Blairites within the Labour Party, if he does win in June” (see https://www.tusc.org.uk/17358/22-04-2017/tusc-chair-dave-nellist-welcomes-general-election-chance-to-drive-out-the-tories).
An anti-austerity message
TUSC has been fielding candidates on a 100% anti-austerity socialist platform since its formation in 2010, co-founded by the late general secretary of the RMT transport workers’ union, Bob Crow.
Obviously the political situation has changed since then, with Jeremy Corbyn’s election as Labour leader. TUSC has continued to contest local elections against right-wing Labour councillors carrying out Tory cuts but it has not stood candidates – including this Thursday – against Labour politicians who have resisted austerity in the council chambers.
So vote TUSC where possible on Thursday – and then join the campaign to help finish May in June and get Jeremy Corbyn into No.10.
Results reporting
All the TUSC results will be published on this website although we can’t say exactly when. Many councils have cut back on overtime for election staff and are not beginning their counts until Friday morning. So not all results will be available until the weekend but we will be posting regular updates from Friday afternoon onwards.