With nominations closed for the local elections taking place on May 7th it is now confirmed that the sixth-biggest bloc of candidates – behind Labour, the Tories, Reform, the Lib Dems and the Greens – are those using one of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) descriptions on their ballot paper.

The number of local authorities with scheduled contests this May is 136, with councillors being elected in around 3,000 wards or county council divisions.  In total there are 289 candidates who are using a TUSC-registered description in the local elections across 64 councils – standing in one-in-five of the wards in those councils and just under one-in ten overall – including candidates for the directly-elected mayors of Croydon, Lewisham and Tower Hamlets.

At the same time there will be six constituency candidates using a TUSC description in the Scottish Parliament elections, agreed by the autonomous Scottish Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition, and two constituencies contested by five candidates using a TUSC description in the Welsh Senedd elections (out of 16), with each constituency sending six members to the Senedd on a proportional system.

The full list is available here, with the English council candidates presented in a regional breakdown.

Most of the candidates appear on the ballot paper with the description Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition next to their name but some are using the Independent Trade Union and Socialist Candidate or Socialist and Trade Union Candidate descriptors.

Whatever the description, however, every candidate is committed to stand up to the establishment parties, who have all shown themselves to be indistinguishable when it comes to representing the interests of working class people.  The TUSC core policy platform for the May council elections – the minimum ‘six guarantees’ that local election candidates commit to before they can use one of the TUSC descriptions – can be found here.

For those with a TUSC candidate in their area the opportunity is there not just to protest on May 7th but to vote positively for socialist change. And, if you can, join us in that campaign. ■

There are other candidates contesting the establishment parties on May 7th who, while not appearing on the ballot paper with a trade unionist and socialist description, will be supported by our coalition. These include the 20 candidates standing under the Your Party name and others appearing on the ballot paper as ‘Independent’ who could be properly described as anti-cuts and anti-war candidates. We are currently collating information on these and will publish as comprehensive a list as possible of alternative candidates before polling day.