The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) national chairperson Dave Nellist has warmly welcomed Jeremy Corbyn's decisive victory in the Labour leadership contest.

Speaking shortly after the result was announced at the Queen Elizabeth Conference Centre in London, Dave Nellist, a former Labour MP who served in the Commons alongside Jeremy Corbyn in the 1980s, said:

"Jeremy's clear victory will now give a voice to the depth of anti-austerity feeling in Britain. He has clearly inspired huge numbers, particularly young people, with his call for free education, public ownership of rail and energy, and for councils to stand together in opposition to government cuts.

The September meeting of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) national steering committee has revised the agenda for the forthcoming TUSC conference to take account of the tremendous anti-austerity movement that has mobilised around Jeremy Corbyn's Labour leadership bid.

The TUSC conference is taking place on Saturday 26th September at Student Central, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HY, from 11am to 4-30pm.

The opening session, under the title 'The role of TUSC in the new situation', will be a chance to assess what needs to be done, after Jeremy Corbyn's hoped for success, to continue the process of re-building independent working class political representation.

The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) national steering committee has agreed a draft statement of core policies for the 2016 local council elections (see below).

First published at the start of the summer, the statement has been updated to take account of the tremendous anti-austerity movement that has mobilised around Jeremy Corbyn's bid for the Labour leadership.

The draft platform will be debated at the TUSC conference being held on September 26th. Local TUSC groups, constituent organisations or individuals who want to move amendments should send them to the TUSC national agent, Clive Heemskerk, at [email protected], by Friday 18th September to be included in the conference discussion.

Fleetwood town council has voted to oppose controversial plans by the Halite Energy company to build a gas storage facility on the Fylde Coast.

The government Department of Energy and Climate Change has recently granted permission to Hailte to develop a huge underground gas storage scheme in salt caverns at Preesall (Over Wyre), in Lancashire, despite massive public opposition.

The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) Fleetwood town councillor Simon Roberts had organised a protest before the council meeting on August 25, which drew together members of the public including Preesall residents and anti-fracking campaigners.

BBC News 11 August 2015: Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition National Election Agent Clive Heemskerk refutes claims that TUSC is infiltrating the Jeremy Corbyn campaign in the Labour leadership election and confirms the popularity of socialist ideas.

Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) supporters were among the tens of thousands of protestors who took to the streets of London and Glasgow on 20 June 2015 to march against austerity.

TUSC is a 100% anti-austerity coalition of trade unionists, community campaigners, young people and socialists, with TUSC candidates polling nearly 120,000 votes for that message in May's elections.

The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) today called on media outlets to name the sources for their stories that the Labour Party is being 'infiltrated' by TUSC members.

This follows the revelation that a former South London councillor who stood for TUSC in May was wrongly named in The Times as somebody who had signed up to support Jeremy Corbyn's leadership bid.

Last week The Times named Chris Flood, who stood as a TUSC candidate in the Lewisham Deptford constituency in May, as a new registered Labour supporter.

From The Independent on Sunday, 2nd August:

"If, as many Labour MPs believe, their party isn't having a leadership contest but a troubled convention of ghosts from socialists past, then Dave Nellist is among the haunting elite.

The former MP for Coventry South, now 63, was among those expelled from Labour in the early 1990s because of his links with the group centred around The Militant newspaper.

The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) Fleetwood town councillor Simon Roberts has added his voice of opposition to a recent government decision to allow a controversial gas storage facility on the Fylde Coast.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has granted the Halite Energy company permission to develop a huge underground gas storage scheme in salt caverns at Preesall (Over Wyre), in Lancashire, despite three rejections of the plan and massive public opposition.

The decision by the DECC to allow Halite to proceed follows last month's rejection by Lancashire county council of bids by the Cuadrilla energy company to test frack on the Flyde and bodes ill for the outcome if Caudrilla appeals.

The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) national steering committee has agreed a draft statement of core policies for the 2016 local council elections, A councillors' revolt could stop the Tory cuts! (see below).

This will now go to the TUSC conference being held on September 26th, where local TUSC groups, constituent organisations or individuals will be able to move amendments to the statement for debate and decision. Amendments should be sent to the TUSC national agent, Clive Heemskerk, at [email protected], by Friday 18th September to be included in the conference discussion.

The platform, once it has been finalised, is the basis on which any prospective candidate can stand under the TUSC name in the elections taking place next May in 127 English councils.

The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) has added its voice to mounting opposition against the Conservative government's Trade Union Bill raising the threshold for union strike ballots, and allowing employers to bring in agency staff to break strikes.

The Trade Union Bill, introduced to parliament on Wednesday, 11th July, imposes a minimum 50% turnout in union strike ballots; for public sector strikes to be legal they would need the backing of at least 40% of those eligible to vote.

TUSC national chair, former Labour MP Dave Nellist, said:

Scottish TUSC conference

The Scottish Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) meet in conference on June 27th to discuss plans to field the largest possible number of working class fighters as candidates in next May's elections for Scotland's Parliament.

The platform was dominated by those at the sharp end of fighting austerity, including speakers from the Glasgow School Buses campaign; Graham Nelson, a senior shop steward for Unite and a striking hospital porter from Dundee; and Chris Semani, Unison steward and striking Glasgow caseworker.

Another keynote speaker was Gordon Martin, the Scottish organiser of the RMT transport workers' union, whose members at CalMac are also on strike.