The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) steering committee has published a briefing document (here) on the new possibilities for campaigning on rent controls and council house building, after the coming into effect of the Renters’ Rights Act in May 2026.

The briefing explains what the Act has changed – in opening up a new terrain for organising tenants – and what it hasn’t. But also, what councils could do with existing legal powers, including achieving rent restraint in practice, if there were councillors prepared to fight.

There are suggestions on what policy commitments could be sought from prospective candidates in the May 2027 local council elections, both those seeking to use one of the TUSC registered descriptions on the ballot paper and candidates from other parties.

Comments on the briefing are welcome, including the thoughts of activists in housing campaign organisations like Acorn and SHAC, and can be sent to the TUSC National Election Agent, Clive Heemskerk, at [email protected]. ■

Anti-austerity and anti-war councillors, even when they are working as a minority in the council chamber, can make a difference, as a republished case study of the record of two socialist councillors under the last New Labour government shows.

The councillors were elected in the south London borough of Lewisham in 2006, under the Tony Blair government that was pioneering the ‘profit before people’ policies of austerity and privatisation that the Labour government still emulates today. The Socialist Councillors Are Different! pamphlet, now published online, gives a blow-by-blow account of the role that even just one or two determined councillors can play to protect working class interests against the establishment politicians.

Over the years the TUSC all-Britain steering committee has produced regular briefings, reports and guidance material on how councillors could fight back, including our 55-page briefing, Preparing a No Cuts People’s Budget, the 2025 How Much Reserves Have They Got? report, and a September 2025 discussion document on the opportunities a base in councils could provide for the then prospective Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana new party.

Now we are pleased to make the Lewisham pamphlet more widely available. And look forward to discussing and working with any councillors elected under any banner who are seeking the means to fight austerity all the way. ■

The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) All-Britain Steering Committee has produced a new guide for candidates thinking about contesting the local council elections taking place in 2026 on Thursday May 7th. 

An annual publication, this year the guide includes an explanation of how TUSC will be working with Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana’s Your Party to ensure the widest-possible co-ordinated presence of socialist working class anti-austerity and anti-war candidates in May’s contests.  This is in the context that the 2026 local elections will be a unique challenge for Your Party, as recognised in the party’s founding documents, given the “time constraints” of the official nomination process for the elections and “the absence of agreed branch structures” for the new party with its first elected leadership not taking office until March.

As the guide states, as a result “there will almost certainly be Your Party supporters who want to stand as a clear anti-austerity, anti-war socialist candidate but will not be able to be agreed as an official Your Party candidate in time”.

It goes on, however, that “they will be more than welcome to use one of the TUSC descriptions to distinguish themselves from right-wing or non-political ‘Independents’ on this occasion if they wish”, and explains how that can be done.

The guide also contains information on the official regulations governing the elections, based on publications produced by the Electoral Commission, along with some tips and pointers drawn from the previous experience of socialist election campaigners. 

There will be around 4,342 councillors elected this May and, with no deposits needed to stand for a local election seat, the question is: why couldn’t YOU be on the ballot paper to help build an alternative to the establishment parties?  The guide shows how you can. ■

The 2026 Guide for Candidates and Agents in the Local Council Elections is available as a downloadable PDF at https://www.tusc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/2026-Guide-for-Candidates-Agents.pdf

An application form to use the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition name and emblem on the ballot paper, or any of the other eight descriptions TUSC has registered with the Electoral Commission, is available at https://www.tusc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/2026-Application-form-Cllr.docx

The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) All-Britain Steering Committee has republished the Preparing a No Cuts People's Budget briefing document we first produced in January 2016.

The new briefing document is available as a PDF at https://www.tusc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/450.pdf.

Now Sir Keir Starmer has revived Tony Blair's New Labour, once again working class voters face being effectively disenfranchised. But the crisis of local public services has not gone away and the need for a fighting alternative is even greater. The re-published TUSC briefing, new and updated, is a contribution to building that alternative.