TUSC chair Dave Nellist was interviewed on BBC2's Daily Politics show on 10 April by programme host Andrew Neil.

Pat James

Today sees the funeral of lifelong Bristol socialist Pat James, who sadly passed away on March 16th at the age of 83.

Pat was one of nine children and was born in the working class community of Easton, Bristol. Her hatred of the capitalist system developed at an early age. She joined the Co-operative youth club which helped form her socialist ideas.

She became very active in the Labour Party and was a staunch supporter of the Labour Party Young Socialists. She was a formidable organiser and at one point became Tony Benn's election agent during the period when he was an MP for Bristol South East.

The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) has contested two town council by-elections in as many weeks which were marked mainly by the low voter turnout - but which also saw, in that context, decent TUSC scores.

Labour won the March 27th by-election in the South Yorkshire town of Maltby, with 48% of the vote. But just 17% of the 1,800-strong electorate went to the polls. The TUSC candidate, Unison member Gavin Roberts, won a 13% share.

But 17% was almost twice the turnout - at 9.6%! - in the Lydney West by-election on April 2nd, in the Forest of Dean. The seat was won there by the Tories with the TUSC candidate Claude Mickleson, a former treasurer of the National Pensioners Convention, picking up a 21% share of the 138 people who voted.

Over 350 people have now put themselves forward to stand as anti-austerity candidates under the common banner of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) in the local elections on May 22nd.

Congratulations are due to everyone who has been prepared to take such a stand. So far at least 69 councils, out of the 160 with local elections this year, will see a challenge to the establishment parties, and UKIP too.

Fighting these elections is important. Evidence emerges daily of how councils - Labour, Tory, and Lib Dem alike - are acting as local agents of the austerity agenda.

The Hackney and Islington Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) is holding a showing of the film, The Battle of Orgreave, this Saturday. The police assault at Orgreave, which took place 30 years ago this June, was one of the most violent confrontations in the 1984-85 miners' strike.

Jeremy Deller, the 2004 Turner Prize winner, will introduce the film and there will be a post-film discussion on the theme: Fighting then! Fighting against cuts! Fighting for justice!

Panel guests include: Voice of Youth, a Daymer representative, Mike Simons (working on a film called "Still the enemy within") and Judy Beishon, Hackney TUSC candidate. The event will be chaired by Lesley Woodburn, Islington TUSC candidate.

Another forty applications have been approved this week by the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) national steering committee to be TUSC candidates in May's local elections.

This takes to 251 the number of candidates - so far - joining the TUSC challenge to the pro-austerity consensus of the establishment parties. This is already the biggest trade union and socialist based left of Labour electoral challenge in local elections since the immediate aftermath of world war two.

Candidates will be fighting seats in sixty out of the 160 councils with elections in May - already an impressive spread, and with five weeks left before nominations close. A full list of the candidates approved so far, broken down into regions and including this week's applications, can be found at http://www.tusc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/284.pdf.

The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) national steering committee this week approved a further 28 candidates for May's local elections.

Added to the candidate applications agreed at the February 26th steering committee (see http://www.tusc.org.uk/16922/03-03-2014/first-batch-of-local-election-candidates-agreed-by-tusc-steering-committee ), there are now 211 TUSC authorised candidates in place for May 22nd, in 49 of the 160 English councils with elections this year.

The steering committee will now be processing candidate applications on a weekly basis, with those approved posted up on the TUSC website at the beginning of each week. The Certificates of Authorisation, which need to be handed in to council Returning Officers with the official nomination papers, will be sent out to agents from the end of March.

The 'rebel two' Southampton city councillors Keith Morrell and Don Thomas have issued the following statement to the local media, joining the tributes being made to Bob Crow.

"News of the death of Bob Crow came as a huge shock to us, as it would have done to so many people who knew and respected him.

"As the leader of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) he fought tirelessly for his members and for working people in Britain and across the world.

Bob Crow speaking at TUSC's 2012 London Assembly election campaign launch

Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition supporters will be shocked and saddened to hear that RMT union general secretary Bob Crow has died.

TUSC national chair Dave Nellist said: "Bob Crow was an inspirational union leader who tenaciously defended his members' jobs, pay and conditions - head and shoulders above most other union leaders.

"Bob also recognised, well before most other union leaders, that the overlapping austerity agenda of the big parties meant working people have to start again and build anew.

The recent Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) Local Elections 2014 conference (see http://www.tusc.org.uk/16896/03-02-2014/as-labour-moves-to-end-union-links-trade-unionists-and-socialists-plan-biggest-electoral-challenge-for-generations ) heard from Oktay Sahbaz, a representative of the Turkish-Kurdish community group, Day-Mer.

Oktay outlined the campaigning record and socialist roots of Day-Mer and fired a warning at establishment party councillors implementing austerity, "we are coming for you".

The recent Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) Local Elections 2014 conference (see http://www.tusc.org.uk/16896/03-02-2014/as-labour-moves-to-end-union-links-trade-unionists-and-socialists-plan-biggest-electoral-challenge-for-generations ) heard from Oktay Sahbaz, a representative of the Turkish-Kurdish community group, Day-Mer.

Oktay outlined the campaigning record and socialist roots of Day-Mer and fired a warning at establishment party councillors implementing austerity, "we are coming for you".

TUSC supporters on the Canterbury march to save children's centres, 15/02/14, photo by Dave Semple

Kent trade unionists and parents from the Save Kent Children's Centres campaign marched through the centre of Canterbury on Saturday 15th February in protest at the closure of twelve children's centres by the Tory county council, with a strong presence by supporters of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC).

Following two previous demonstrations and thousands of names on a petition, Kent county council retreated from its initial proposal of closing 23 children's centres. The protests of parents, underpinned and organised by socialists in the trade unions, forced a backtrack on eleven centres.

In the last week, however, up to 300 staff at the children's centres have been told that they will have to re-apply for their jobs, as opening hours of centres are reduced and the council seeks to strip out resources. These resources include fully qualified teachers at each centre.