Home
TUSC will oppose all cuts to council jobs, services, pay and conditions. Reject increases in council tax, rent and service charges to compensate for government cuts. Vote against the privatisation of council jobs and services.
TUSC has had hundreds of declarations of support. You can support TUSC as an individual trade unionist or socialist, or apply for your organisation to join TUSC.
TUSC has no big business sponsorship. TUSC is a coalition for the millions not millionaires. Every donation to TUSC strengthens our fight for a better future.
Printed and published by TUSC, 17 Colebert House, Colebert Avenue, London E1 4JP
Telephone: 020 7702 8667
email: [email protected]
Press: 020 8988 8773
v2
Friday 17 May 2013
UKIP surge continues, squeezing TUSC in Rotherham by-election
THE UKIP advance in May's local elections continued on Thursday as they took a seat from Labour in the Rawmarsh ward council by-election in Rotherham.
When this seat was contested in the 2012 borough council elections Labour won with 1,685 votes (66%) to the BNP's 531. The only other candidate was a Conservative, who polled 328 votes.
This time the UKIP candidate, who had some profile from contesting the Rotherham parliamentary seat in the 2010 general election, won with 46% of the vote, with Labour falling to 42% on only a slightly lower turnout. The BNP collapsed from 531 (21%) to 80 votes.
In this context congratulations are due to the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) candidate, Andrew Gray, a member of the Community (steelworkers) union, who polled 61 votes, still ahead of the Liberal Democrat candidate.
In the twelve council by-elections TUSC has contested this year some of the votes have been modest, although with an overall average of 8.2%.
But why shouldn't the pro-austerity consensus - promoted by the Tories, the Lib Dems, Labour and now UKIP too - be challenged at the ballot box when the opportunity comes?