Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition candidates who stood in 2012

TUSC candidate for the mayor of Liverpool election 2012

Tony Mulhearn

Occupation: Civil Servant

Position: PCS member
Former President of Liverpool District Labour Party (1980-86)
Leading member of the 'Liverpool 47' councillors who defied the Thatcher government (1984-87)
Merseyside spokesperson for the Socialist Party

Tony says:

open quote

In 2011 Joe Anderson and his �Joe Labour� Party were elected to the city council on a massive 63% majority. This clearly indicated that the people of Liverpool were attempting to build a blockade, to the protect themselves from the attacks of the ConDem government, from a total hammering of over �250m cuts to the city council and national attacks on pay, pensions, health and education.

The working class in Liverpool have had none of the imagined protection. Joe Anderson and the Liverpool Labour party have passed on every single cut, demanded by the ConDem government and their rich backers, to the penny. Rather than fight the cuts Joe Anderson has conducted a pie in the sky propaganda campaign, alleging that in fact he is creating 20,000 jobs in the city!

In the 1980�s I was apart of a magnificent campaign to defend the working class from the Thatcher government. The �Liverpool 47� Labour councillors were able to rally the working class around a fighting programme of refusing to implement cuts and instead to set a �needs budget�. This enabled us to roll out a social house building programme amongst other schemes to improve the lives of working class people.

The total refusal of the Labour Party to stand up for the working class which it was created to protect, compelled me to stand for mayor of Liverpool. This is despite the fact that the position of mayor was thrust upon us without a referendum and that the position of mayor is less democratic than the current system of local government.

close quote An alternative to austerity, pro-working class, socialist policies and a fight back is needed in this campaign and that is what I and TUSC in Liverpool will provide.