The 2023 conference of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) is being held at London’s Birkbeck College on Saturday 4th February.

The conference, open to all TUSC supporters to attend, will discuss plans for both the general election and the local elections taking place in May 2023.

Under the title, ‘Starmer’s heading for Number Ten: What should we do at the general election?’, the opening session of the conference will include a broad discussion on what attitude trade unionists and socialists should take to the next general election, that must be held no later than the end of 2024.

The November meeting of the All-Britain Steering Committee of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) agreed to step up preparations for the elections coming up in the period ahead.

These include the 2023 local elections in England which will see over 7,500 councillors elected (see the TUSC directory at https://www.tusc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/473.pdf for the councils going to the polls in May), a bigger battleground in terms of seats to be contested than in either 2021 or 2022. But also, of course, there is the general election, which must be called by the end of 2024 but may well be held much earlier.

With the Labour Party on course with its plan to have a full list of its general election candidates in place by spring 2023, one proposal the TUSC steering committee agreed was for local delegations to be organised to Labours prospective parliamentary candidates (PPCs) to see where they stand on the policies needed to meet the cost-of-living crisis that we face.

A model letter to Labour PPCs was approved highlighting six policy areas where the pledges made in the 2019 general election manifesto under Jeremy Corbyns leadership would go far in beginning to reverse the capitalist political establishments austerity agenda. Sir Keir Starmer, we know, has made it clear that he has put the last manifesto to one side. The slate is wiped clean. There is no prospect of radical change there.

But where do the local candidates stand? And if they cant commit to even the policies that many of them were elected on just three years ago, how can they expect not to be challenged at the ballot box by trade unionists, socialists and anti-austerity campaigners who will?

The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) has stepped up its campaign to get a serious discussion going amongst trade union members, community and social movement campaigners, and socialists from any party or none, on how a working class alternative can be put in place for the next general election.

The autumn tour of TUSC-hosted forums under the heading, Enough is Enough! But what do we do at the ballot box?, has kicked off with successful meetings in Southampton, Wakefield and Newcastle. Further dates have been organised (see https://www.tusc.org.uk/events) and the TUSC steering committee is offering support to anyone prepared to get something going themselves if there isnt a meeting nearby.

This includes supplies of the TUSC leaflet (see https://www.tusc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/476.pdf to view the text, and https://www.tusc.org.uk/resources for how to order) and a model letter to trade union branches - from the TUSC national chairperson and former Labour MP, Dave Nellist, and the TUSC national election agent Clive Heemskerk - which is available at https://www.tusc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/477.pdf.

The October meeting of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) All-Britain Steering Committee agreed a draft core policy platform for TUSC candidates in the local council elections that will take place in May 2023.

With the Tories imploding before our eyes attention has rightly been focused on preparing for the next general election. The steering committee also heard a report on the series of TUSC-hosted meetings being held this autumn under the heading, Enough is Enough! But what do we do at the ballot box?. These aim to provide local forums to discuss how a working class alternative can be put in place for a general election. (See the Events page at https://www.tusc.org.uk/events).

But while the only certainty about the date of the general election is that it must be called by December 2024, we do know that over 7,900 local councillors will face election in six months time. (See the TUSC directory of the May 2023 elections at https://www.tusc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/473.pdf). With local authorities responsible for over one fifth of all spending on public services, the local council elections are an important arena in which a fight for the socialist policies needed to meet the cost-of-living crisis could be carried on. That is the theme of the draft core policy platform below agreed by the steering committee.

The September meeting of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) All-Britain steering committee has agreed to a series of public discussion meetings to be held over the autumn months under the heading, 'Enough is Enough! But what do we do at the ballot box?'.

The aim is to provide forums on as wide a scale as possible to discuss how a working class alternative can be put in place for the next general election.

In her first speech as prime minister Liz Truss said she would go to the polls in 2024: with December that year being the last date the general election could be called. But facing the economic, political and social storms ahead with a 'mandate' from just 81,326 Tory party members - less than half the number of workers on strike against the cost of living crisis only days before her elevation - it could well be a lot earlier than that.

September sees the release of a new book by Chris Williamson, the former Labour MP for Derby North, titled Ten Years Hard Labour and billed as 'the inside story of the Miliband and Corbyn years and how they led to the Labour left's demise'.

Chris was suspended from the Labour Party in February 2019 following comments he had made at a meeting in Sheffield that Labour under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership was being "demonised as a racist, bigoted party". Partly because it had been "too apologetic" in its response, he argued, particularly given that it had "done more to address the scourge of antisemitism than any other political party".

His suspension was lifted by Labour's national executive committee on 26 June, with a formal warning given, meaning that he would still be eligible to be chosen again by his local party as a parliamentary candidate for the next general election. But this was too much for the right-wing majority within the Parliamentary Labour Party and, two days later, he was re-suspended.

One thing is clear from the ferocious 'debates' between the rival factions in the current Tory leadership contest following the resignation of Boris Johnson: whoever wins the 'I am more Thatcherite than you' race, a new programme of austerity attacks on public services is very much on the agenda.

And local councils, responsible for over a fifth of all spending on public services, will be on the frontline again - including Labour-led councils, 125 of them, which alone control budgets of at least £82 billion providing vital services to over 29 million people.

But with the Tories split and in such obvious turmoil, there really should be no excuse for those councils in particular to refuse to go along with new austerity demands and instead act to defend local services and immediately mitigate the cost of living crisis.

The latest meeting of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) All-Britain steering committee, held on June 15th, saw a detailed discussion begin on plans for the next general election. This must be called no later than December 2024 but recent political developments have shown that it could be a lot earlier than that. And with the consolidation of Tony Blair-style 'New Labour' politics within the Labour Party, the committee agreed, working class voters are once again set to be effectively disenfranchised.

To meet this situation TUSC strongly hopes that, before the election, steps towards a new vehicle for working class political representation will have been taken by more authoritative forces than those currently involved in our coalition - primarily from the trade unions or potentially around Jeremy Corbyn himself standing independently of Labour in the general election.

But it is also possible that such steps might not have been taken in time for the next election and that therefore a TUSC challenge would be necessary. This was the theme of the discussion at the steering committee - hope for more, but prepare for a TUSC challenge - around a briefing document prepared by the TUSC national agent, Clive Heemskerk.

The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) directory of the elections taking place in May 2023 has now been published.

This directory, an annual production of TUSC, provides a breakdown of the councils with statutory elections scheduled for the year ahead, the number of councillors up for election, and the current political control in each council listed - a tool for forward planning in the battle to get a socialist, anti-austerity alternative onto the ballot paper. The directory is available as a PDF, by clicking https://www.tusc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/473.pdf

There are 229 councils with elections on Thursday May 4th 2023, with over 7,900 councillors to be elected, a bigger battleground in terms of seats to be contested than in either 2021 or 2022. At the end of the directory there is a brief outline of how you can become a TUSC candidate.

Last month the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) welcomed the Lydney Labour councillor Steve Stockham into our anti-austerity alliance of socialists, trade unionists and working class community campaigners (see https://www.tusc.org.uk/17665/25-04-2022/tusc-welcomes-labour-councillor-as-mood-to-resist-starmers-tory-lite-party-grows).

This month another former Labour councillor, Lynne Cooney, representing the Trinity ward on Louth Town Council in Lincolnshire, has taken the same step, having resigned from the Labour Party in March.

"I have been a Labour councillor for almost three years" Lynne said, in a statement explaining her decision that is being distributed throughout her ward. "I joined Labour under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership because I identified with the need for compassion, for empathy and to support those who needed someone to hear them and help them".

In every year since 2011 that the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) has contested elections it has always published the detailed results of every candidate that appeared on the ballot paper under its umbrella. And this year is no different.

A complete report of the TUSC campaign in the council elections, with the full ward results for where there was a TUSC candidate, was approved by the first post-election meeting of the TUSC all-Britain steering committee on Wednesday May 11th and is published here (https://www.tusc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/472.pdf). Just under 30,000 people cast a vote for TUSC on May 5th.

TUSC stood candidates in the English council elections across 53 local authorities, plus three mayoral candidates, and there were candidates in nine councils in Scotland and five authorities in Wales.

The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) is standing 273 candidates across 69 local authorities in Thursday's council elections.

In addition there are over 40 other candidates standing to the left of Sir Keir Starmer's Tony Blair-style New Labour Party who are also on the ballot paper on May 5th. The full list is available at https://www.tusc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/471.pdf.

The candidates standing on behalf of TUSC are made up of 229 council candidates contesting seats in 55 local authorities in England (plus three mayoral candidacies); 16 candidates standing as Scottish TUSC in nine authorities in Scotland; and 25 candidates in five authorities in Wales.