Almost a year to the day after the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) candidate Joe Robinson won a Town Council seat in the ex-mining town of Maltby, in South Yorkshire (see https://www.tusc.org.uk/press080313.php), TUSC has won a second seat, this time in Maltby East.

Joe won his seat with 60% of the vote against his only other opponent, an ‘independent’ without description on the ballot paper, but was in reality the Labour candidate whom the ruling Labour group on Maltby town council had tried to co-opt when the Maltby North ward vacancy arose.

This time, TUSC candidate Shaun Barratt, a member of the USDAW shopworkers union, was the only person to hand in nomination papers by today’s deadline, and was therefore elected unopposed, in a ward where previously Labour had held four out of the five seats. Other than a different version of the Con-Dem’s austerity agenda, Labour has nothing to offer workers – this time, not even a candidate!

Today was also the deadline for nominations for another by-election, for Maltby South ward, which will contested by TUSC candidate and Unison member Gavin Roberts.

Joe Robinson explained how he won last year’s Maltby by-election, and what he has done as a town councillor since then, at the recent TUSC Local Elections conference. You can see him at http://youtu.be/xXn1yjENz0A