The new anti-austerity and anti-war councillors elected on May 7th can make a difference, as a republished case study of the record of two socialist councillors under the last New Labour government shows.

The headline-grabbing stories from the elections are the gains for Reform and the Greens, the Plaid Cymru surge in Wales, the Scottish National Party’s continued hold in Holyrood and, above all, the crushing defeat for Keir Starmer’s Tory-retread ‘Labour government’. But the election of a number of anti-austerity and anti-war councillors, under a variety of banners including some of the Green victors, offers the chance of a fightback combining council positions with a grassroots campaign – which can build on the previous experience of councillors working as a minority in the council chamber.

That was the situation that faced the two socialist councillors 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 Starmer 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 recent discussion document in preparation for this May’s elections.

Now we are pleased to make the Lewisham pamphlet more widely available. And look forward to discussing and working with those new councillors elected on May 7th who want to fight austerity all the way. ■

The results report

A full report of the results of the 750 or so TUSC, independent and other left candidates who stood on an anti-austerity and anti-war platform on Thursday will be prepared for the next TUSC all-Britain steering committee meeting on Wednesday May 13th.

A draft version will be posted early next week and, after discussion at the steering committee, published on the Candidates Page as a public record – as has been TUSC practice every year since 2011.