TUSC’s local election campaign in Leicester, Britain’s tenth biggest city, has won the support of three former Labour councillors, who will be appearing on the ballot paper under the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition name and logo on May 4th.

TUSC’s stand against the austerity consensus of all the establishment parties is headed by Steve Score, the candidate for the city’s directly-elected mayor.  Steve’s election address, which will be included in the booklet that will go to every household in the city, can be viewed at https://www.tusc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Steve4Mayor-election-address.pdf

Also standing as TUSC candidates are former Labour councillors Wayne Naylor (in Braunstone & Rowley Fields ward) and Barbara Potter (Humberstone & Hamilton), and the sitting councillor Ruma Ali, who was one of the 19 Leicester councillors who were removed as Labour candidates by the national party just weeks before the elections.

Faced with this situation, as Ruma told the local press, “for her, it was a choice between running with the coalition or standing as an independent. ‘I joined so I’m not alone’, she said.  She will be running in Evington ward”. (See https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/leicester-news/leicester-socialists-announce-candidates-mayor-8327447)

But not all of the 19 former Labour councillors have taken the same principled stand of opposing austerity and cuts to services.  Three of them are now standing as Tories on May 4th!  The fact that alleged ‘Labour’ councillors can switch to the Tories with the same ease as they change their shirts says everything about their politics – and what passes for ‘political debate’ in Sir Keir Stamer’s undemocratic Tony Blair-style ‘New Labour’ party.  After all, if the only question up for discussion is how to manage a shrinking budget, how do you distinguish between blue cuts or red cuts? 

TUSC is different.  No cuts.  Fight back.

The minimum policy pledges which every council candidate using the TUSC name on the ballot paper commits to can be viewed at https://www.tusc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Local-election-platform-2023.pdf.

A full list of all TUSC candidates, and other left-of-Labour candidates that TUSC is aware of, is available at https://www.tusc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Left-candidates-on-May-4th.pdf.