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Election planning: the TUSC directory of elections in 2023
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.
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Another Labour councillor declares no confidence in Starmer and lines up with TUSC
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".
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The TUSC results report
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.
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Where you can vote for a left-of-Labour candidate on Thursday
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.
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TUSC welcomes Labour councillor as mood to resist Starmer’s Tory-lite party grows
The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) today welcomed Lydney councillor Steve Stockham into the anti-austerity alliance of socialists, trade unionists and working class community campaigners.
Steve, a Labour member of Lydney town council in the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, announced his switch to TUSC on Saturday, ripping up his party card as he spoke at a public meeting in Swindon alongside the TUSC all-Britain chairperson and former Labour MP Dave Nellist.
"I've been a Labour supporter and voter for all of my adult life", Steve said in a statement explaining his decision, "and since the mid-1990s was a member for two spells. My activist journey began when I was elected NUS first year rep at college followed by time with the NUJ, NUPE, the Post Office Workers union and UNISON with my final job before retiring".
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TUSC election launch: vote for a socialist fightback to the cost of living crisis!
The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) is fielding over 250 candidates in May's local council elections, in England, Scotland and Wales. The full list of candidates, and the seats they are contesting, is available at https://www.tusc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/469.pdf
Launching the TUSC local election campaign, the TUSC All-Britain chairperson Dave Nellist, a former Labour backbench colleague of Jeremy Corbyn from 1983-1992 and the third place finisher in the recent Birmingham Erdington by-election, said:
"Faced with the biggest drop in living standards in sixty years it's more than time for a fightback -starting in the town hall".
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150 candidates now agreed for May local elections challenge, with more to come
The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) has now approved over 150 candidates to contest the local council elections in May.
The latest meeting of the TUSC All-Britain steering committee, held on March 9th, agreed further candidates for councils in England and Wales, taking these to a total of 140 across 33 local authorities, and received notice of the 15 candidates, contesting seats in seven authorities in Scotland, that had been separately approved by the autonomous Scottish TUSC steering committee.
The date of the last full meeting to consider candidate applications is March 30th but, as that is just six days before the official deadline to hand in nomination papers to local council electoral services departments, the steering committee agreed a procedure to authorise candidates beforehand.
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First council candidates in place as appeal made to build on Erdington momentum
Last week's meeting of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) steering committee approved the first batch of candidates to contest the local council elections in May - and appealed for further candidates to come forward to build on the momentum created by Dave Nellist's challenge in the Birmingham Erdington by-election on March 3rd.
The February 16th meeting, the first steering committee since the recent TUSC local elections conference, also finalised the TUSC core policy platform for May. Under the title, 'Vote for a socialist recovery from the Covid crisis!', the ten minimum core policies which every council candidate using the TUSC name on the ballot paper will commit to can be found at https://www.tusc.org.uk/17627/22-02-2022/tuscs-core-policy-platform-for-the-may-2022-local-elections.
The first set of candidates for May include executive council members of the UNISON public services union and the National Education Union (NEU), and members of the UNISON Local Government Service Group Executive and the PCS civil servants union Ministry of Justice Group Executive. There are also four former Labour council candidates from the Jeremy Corbyn leadership years, who are now standing as TUSC candidates in May. The full list is available at https://www.tusc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/463.pdf
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Scottish TUSC to discuss council elections challenge at February 19th conference
The Scottish council elections will take place on May 5 this year, with every councillor up for election. They come at a crucial time, as the onslaught on the living conditions of the working class grows with rising inflation, rents and mortgage costs, and NI increases - making a mockery of the idea that there will be a 'recovery' for working class communities after Covid.
For local government, and for public services generally, the cuts onslaught continues. Most, if not all, councils are planning to implement further austerity in one form or another. There has never been a more important time to ensure that fighting anti-cuts and socialist candidates stand to offer an alternative.
To that end, the Scottish Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (Scottish TUSC) is organising a conference on Saturday 19 February on Zoom. The aim of the conference is to promote and encourage as wide an anti-cuts, socialist election challenge as possible to the Tory, Labour, Lib Dem, SNP, Green etc mantra of unending cuts.
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Labour’s largest union affiliate suspends financial support in the Midlands
Speaking on a live Facebook broadcast on Wednesday 9th February, Sharon Graham, general secretary of Unite the Union, suspended the union's funding to the Labour Party whilst the Coventry bin strike against a Labour council continues.
She said: "So let me be very very clear. Until this strike is settled the remaining financial relationship with the Labour Party is now under review. There will be no Labour politician in the Midlands who will get one single penny from my members or any practical support of any kind while this strike is going ahead".
This decision could affect the chances of Labour's candidate in the Erdington by-election, Paulette Hamilton, as the union withdraws all "practical support of any kind".
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TUSC Individual Members section representative elected to steering committee
The long-standing independent socialist Pete McLaren has been re-elected as the representative of TUSC Individual Members onto the TUSC All-Britain Steering Committee for 2022.
TUSC is a coalition with an all-Britain steering committee comprised of representatives from its constituent organisations alongside leading trade unionists, sitting in a personal capacity. The current constituent organisations are the RMT transport workers' union, formally represented on the steering committee since 2012; the Socialist Party, a co-founder of TUSC in 2010; and Resist, established in 2019 by, amongst others, the ex-Labour MP Chris Williamson.
Individual members of TUSC who are not members of a constituent organisation, with their own national meetings, also have a place on the committee.
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Trade unionists support Dave Nellist’s Birmingham Erdington by-election campaign
Thirty prominent trade unionists have today launched a petition in support of Dave Nellist's campaign as the Trade Unionist and Socialist (TUSC) candidate in the Birmingham Erdington parliamentary by-election on March 3rd.
Dave, who was the MP for Coventry South East from 1983 to 1992, was well-known during his time in parliament as a workers' MP on a worker's wage. He only took a skilled worker's wage, as calculated from figures compiled across ten Coventry factories by the engineering workers' union (AUEW, now part of Unite), giving away over half of the MPs' bloated salary - currently £82,000 a year - to trade unionists and working class campaigners.
From his first day as an MP to the end, Dave stood up for workers. His last day in parliament saw him pilot a private member's bill through the House of Commons (initially introduced in the Lords by Baroness Turner) to extend legal protection to union health and safety reps on offshore oil rigs. Nobody can doubt where Dave stands in the struggles of the labour and trade union movement.
Policies
TUSC will oppose all cuts to council jobs, services, pay and conditions. Reject increases in council tax, rent and service charges to compensate for government cuts. Vote against the privatisation of council jobs and services.
Support TUSC or find out more
TUSC has had hundreds of declarations of support. You can support TUSC as an individual trade unionist or socialist, or apply for your organisation to join TUSC.