Following the successful ‘Trade Unionists for a New Party’ meeting on July 21st, as promised a series of follow-ups are being organised to discuss what needs to be done in each individual union to make sure that trade unions and trade unionists are at the heart of the new anti-austerity and anti-war party that is in the process of being formed.

Over one thousand trade unionists, on Zoom and via a live feed, attended the July 21st meeting, which included contributions from Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana MP just days before they made their mould-breaking call for a “new kind of political party” – which has since gathered 700,000 sign-ups!

Initial follow-up meetings to work out the details of what to do next have been organised for Unite the Union members (on 7th August), the Communications Workers Union (11th August), the University and Colleges Union (14th August), Unison (18th August), and the National Education Union (also August 18th).  Registration details for each are listed below.  And watch out for union specific meetings for PCS, RMT, GMB, USDAW members and others in the coming weeks. 

And if you missed the July 21st meeting, hosted by Dave Nellist, the former Labour MP (1983-1992) and now the chair of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC), you can watch the video at https://youtu.be/fTTmB-itr4U?si=CS3s5DEUioGeUzUg ■

Trade Unionists for a New Party follow-up meetings registration details:

UNITE – Thursday 7th August, 6-30pm – https://tinyurl.com/Register4TUnewpartymeeting

CWU – Monday 11th August, 6-30pm – https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/0efJqg1aQpK6OrRXM26EEw

UCU – Thursday 14th August, 6-30pm – https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/CEcTKiXORvCvos4mvoaG0g

UNISON – Monday 18th August, 6-30pm – https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/Ev3wZqjLTYeiygpZdcWNYw

NEU – Monday 18th August, 7-30pm – https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/-MtXgZKBQJiuvBES8F7XxA

The call by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana on Thursday 24 July for a “new kind of political party” to challenge ‘the rigged system’ has met with a phenomenal response. 

Within 24 hours over a quarter of a million people had signed up “to be part of the founding process” of a new party – more than the memberships of Reform (229,000), the Conservatives (131,000), the Liberal Democrats (90,000) and the Greens (65,000). 

If you haven’t done so already, you can read Jeremy and Zarah’s statement and sign up at www.yourparty.uk  Labour’s claimed membership, within target now, is 309,000.

The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) fully supports moves towards the establishment of a new working class party and will do everything we can to take this process forward. 

A full statement from the TUSC all-Britain steering committee, agreed before Jeremy and Zarah’s 24 July declaration but even more relevant now, is at https://www.tusc.org.uk/21778/17-07-2025/tusc-offers-full-backing-to-moves-towards-a-new-party/

Trade union campaign

One immediate next step we identified in our statement was to push forward the campaign calling for urgent discussions across the unions to establish a political voice for working people (see the online petition at https://www.change.org/TradeUnions-LaunchANewParty).

And on July 21 over a thousand trade unionists attended a meeting – on Zoom and via a live feed – to discuss next steps to ensure that trade unionists and trade unions are at the core of a new party.

Hosted by the TUSC chair Dave Nellist, the meeting featured contributions from Jeremy and Zarah and executive committee members from Unite, UCU, NEU, Unison, the PCS, and others.  If you missed it, you can watch the video at https://youtu.be/fTTmB-itr4U?si=CS3s5DEUioGeUzUg

And look out for the follow-up meetings that will be organised for individual unions in the coming weeks.

BFAWU bakers’ union statement

Another speaker on July 21 was the president of the BFAWU bakers’ union, Ian Hodson.  And the day after the meeting the union’s executive council issued a statement on the creation of a new political party (at https://www.bfawu.org/statement-on-the-creation-of-a-new-political-party/).

The BFAWU, which disaffiliated from the Labour Party in 2021 after 119 years of membership, welcomed “the stirrings of a new political force.  A party that could speak in our voice [and] fight our fights”.

“But it must be built the right way”, the statement went on. “Not by coronation but through collective decision-making” and putting workers “at the centre”. 

“We’re not here to follow”, it ended.  “We’re here to lead”.

Jeremy Corbyn concluded at the 21 July meeting that “there’s 1,000 people on this call, 1,000 people with 1,000 ideas.  And they’ll all be good ones, they’ll all be inclusive, they'll all be determined, and they'll all, above all, be about bringing a change in our society”.

It’s on!  The fight for a new workers’ party with socialist policies is under way. ■

Over one thousand trade unionists – on Zoom and via a live feed – attended the meeting held on July 21st to discuss next steps in a campaign for unions to be at the core of a new working class party to challenge Keir Starmer’s continuity Tories New Labour.

Hosted by Dave Nellist, the former Labour MP (1983-1992) and now the chair of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC), the meeting featured contributions from Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana MP.  While executive committee members from Unite, UCU, NEU, Unison, the PCS and others, focused the discussion on what needs to be done to ensure that trade unions and trade unionists can take the lead in building the new anti-austerity and anti-war party so desperately needed.

If you missed the meeting, you can watch the video at https://youtu.be/fTTmB-itr4U?si=CS3s5DEUioGeUzUg

Follow-up meetings will be organised for individual unions in the coming weeks but in the meantime an online petition, at this point supported by over 1,800 trade unionists including 43 current and former union executive committee members, can be signed at https://www.change.org/TradeUnions-LaunchANewParty   

And a template to print out paper versions of the petition to use at meetings, demonstrations or for individual discussions with other trade unionists can be downloaded at https://www.tusc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Petition-template-update.pdf

Youth walkout against Trump

Meanwhile, Socialist Students, which is one of the constituent organisations of TUSC, has made the front page of the US Time magazine – or, at least, the top of the Time website landing page for a day! 

In a feature on how people ‘across the pond’ are responding to Trump’s UK visits, the Time article highlighted a planned September 17 nationwide Youth Walkout Against Trump in schools and colleges with, as they write, hundreds “already signed up, according to Socialist Students, the organizers of the protest”.

Adam Gillman, Socialist Students’ national organiser, is reported as saying “we can send a powerful message to young people and workers in America that we stand with them against Trump – not with Starmer, who issued the invite for this state visit”.

And “Lauren, a student from the Welsh town of Wrexham” – which happens to be the home city of two TUSC-supporting councillors – is also quoted: “These walkouts are a chance to stand up to Trump, as well as our government who welcome him with open arms, and all other leaders who uphold this corrupt system”.  And building support for the idea of a new party as we do.

Socialist Students is a campaigning organisation with a presence in over 60 schools, colleges and universities.  If you want to be part of the walkout campaign, sign up at https://socialiststudents.org.uk/youth-walkout-against-trump/

Can you help TUSC and its work?

TUSC, the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition, fully supports the moves towards the establishment of a new working class party, including an offer to hand over its legal registration with the Electoral Commission to Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana if that would speed things along (see the full statement from the TUSC all-Britain steering committee at https://www.tusc.org.uk/21778/17-07-2025/tusc-offers-full-backing-to-moves-towards-a-new-party/).

Can you help us in all this work?  Donations can be made at https://www.tusc.org.uk/donate/  And, if you are not a member of one of the constituent organisations of the coalition but want to participate in it, you can join the TUSC individual members’ section, with their own representatives on the steering committee, at https://www.tusc.org.uk/join/  The time to get involved is now. ■

The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) all-Britain steering committee has offered its full backing to the recent moves made towards the establishment of a new political voice for the working class to challenge the continuity Tories of Keir Starmer’s New Labour party.

At its first meeting since the dramatic announcement on July 3rd by the Coventry South MP Zarah Sultana that she was resigning from Labour to work with Jeremy Corbyn to found a new party, the TUSC steering committee agreed to help in any way it can to make a new working-class party become a reality.

The TUSC national chairperson Dave Nellist, also a former Labour MP (1983-1992) from Coventry South, said:  “From its beginning TUSC has been conceived as ‘contributing to the hard, long-term task of rebuilding political representation’ for the working class – in the words of the 2012 RMT transport workers’ union AGM resolution that saw it officially join the TUSC steering committee – not as the finished broader vehicle that is needed but rather a lever to help bring it about”. 

“Our activity has always been aimed to help develop the self-confidence of the working class that it is an alternative power to the tiny capitalist elite who rule our society.  And that it has the capacity to create and build its own democratic mass workers’ party to realise that power politically”.

“It is from that starting point that TUSC has been involved in some of the discussions that preceded Zarah Sultana’s announcement on July 3rd.  And it is on that basis too that we will enthusiastically contribute what we can to the process of getting a new party off the ground”.

“One immediate step we will be pushing forward is the campaign initiated in May by senior trade unionists – now with 41 current and former members of trade union executive committees signed up – calling for urgent discussions across the unions to establish a political voice for working people (see the online petition at https://www.change.org/TradeUnions-LaunchANewParty)”.

“Another will be to offer support to councillors prepared to come over to a new party; in a situation where Labour’s continued austerity agenda for local government means that a fighting, no cuts strategy – which TUSC has pioneered since its inception – will be vital to marking out a new party and its representatives as completely different to the establishment politicians”.

Party registration offer

Dealing with the next practical steps to be addressed, the TUSC national election agent Clive Heemskerk added: “Establishing a new workers’ party able to bring together trade unions, anti-war protestors, working class community campaigners, environmental activists, young people fighting for a future, and the already existing groups of independent councillors, is a process and not something to be achieved in one act”. (continued)

The prospect of establishing a new political voice for the working class to challenge the continuity Tories of Keir Starmer’s New Labour party is now closer than ever!  On Thursday 3rd July the MP for Coventry South Zarah Sultana announced her resignation from the Labour Party and her intention to work with Jeremy Corbyn to help found a new party.

Trade unionists will be critical in building a new party and shaping it to make it not just for, but of, the working class.  It is the unions, the already existing mass organisations of the working class, who possess the resources, mass membership, and social cohesion necessary to reach millions of people across all working-class communities and burst the Reform bubble.

After the elections in May this year, which saw gains everywhere for Reform, a number of senior trade unionists started a petition calling for the unions to take the lead in building a new working class party.  To this point the petition has been signed by 41 current and former members of trade union executive committees and over 1,600 trade unionists from all levels of our movement.

Now, after Jeremy and Zarah’s announcement, it is necessary to discuss the next steps to be fought for in every union, with a national Zoom meeting organised on Monday, 21st July, at 6:30pm to begin the job.

Get involved!  Sign the petition online at https://www.change.org/TradeUnions-LaunchANewParty  And register at https://tinyurl.com/Register4TUnewpartymeeting to receive a link to the meeting.

A template to print out paper versions of the petition to use at meetings, demonstrations or for individual discussions with other trade unionists can be downloaded at https://www.tusc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Petition-template-update.pdf ■

As the anniversary of the 2024 general election approaches, support is growing for the call made by trade unionists for steps to be taken now in the unions to establish a new political voice for working class people.

Various opinion polls are consistently showing Reform UK ahead of Labour.  One poll reported by Unite the Union suggests that only 5% of voters in Birmingham are actively considering voting Labour in next May’s local elections, for the biggest council in Europe.  Where will the other votes go?  The danger is that Nigel Farage could make significant gains, as happened in this year’s locals.  Time is not on our side.

A new all-Britain party capable of challenging all the Establishment parties on austerity and war is needed.  And only the unions have the resources, membership, and social cohesion to reach millions of people across all working-class communities.

The most recent prominent supporter of the petition calling for trade union action for a new party is Len McCluskey. The retired general secretary of Unite the Union signed at a meeting addressed by Jeremy Corbyn in Liverpool on June 14.  In total 37 current and former trade union national executive members are now backing the campaign – listed below – alongside over 1,300 who have supported it online and many more on paper.

The petition can be signed online at https://www.change.org/TradeUnions-LaunchANewParty and the template to print out paper versions to use at meetings, demonstrations can be downloaded at https://www.tusc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Petition-template.pdf.

National Zoom meeting

To follow-up the initial petition launch a national Zoom meeting has now been organised to discuss the campaign in more detail.

Different strategies will be needed for affiliated and non-affiliated unions: from challenging Labour funding and building new relationships with independent MPs such as Jeremy Corbyn (as the UCU conference has done), to organising conferences and forums within and across unions to work out the next steps.

At its June meeting, for example, Cardiff Trades Council unanimously voted to organise a conference in the autumn to address the crisis of political representation for the working class in Wales.  They are currently inviting all Welsh trades councils and trade union organisations to co-sponsor the event (the full motion is on the Cardiff TUC Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/cardifftradescouncil).

The Zoom meeting is on Monday 21st July, starting at 6-30pm.  Register at https://tinyurl.com/Register4TUnewpartymeeting to receive a link to the meeting.■

Although, typically, the details are obscure, the Starmer government has signalled that it will U-turn over some aspects of the withdrawal of winter fuel payments to pensioners it introduced last year. One down (sort of), but many more to go.

At the last meeting of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) all-Britain steering committee we discussed a letter from Swansea Disabled People Against the Cuts (DPAC). They have been campaigning to get their local Labour MPs to publicly debate their position on the proposed cuts to disability and other welfare benefits. There is supposed to be a ‘public consultation’ on the plans, so why not tell the public what they think?

It was agreed to fully support their initiative and encourage similar campaigns elsewhere to also put Labour MPs on the spot before a parliamentary vote.

One way is to follow the Swansea model and try and get in-person public debates in as many areas as possible.

But there are many other ways for everyone to join in too.  From writing to your own MP (with an Inclusion London model letter available to use) to supporting the parliamentary motion submitted by the left-wing MP Richard Burgon calling for a wealth tax instead of devastating cuts to disability support.  Just follow the link to start – https://bit.ly/m/Stop-the-cuts

Starmer has been forced into one half U-turn – now let’s stop the disability benefit cuts. ■

The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) all-Britain steering committee met after the May 1st elections and agreed a report on the results – which is now available at https://www.tusc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/2025-results-report.pdf.

The main theme of the steering committee discussion was how the profound alienation of working class voters from establishment politics that the results revealed – with Reform, at this stage, the chief beneficiary – required an urgent response from the trade union movement. 

But, it was emphasised, this cannot be the merely denunciatory approach adopted during the May elections of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) general secretary Paul Nowak and other union leaders.  Acknowledging, as Paul Nowak did in an April 27th interview, that “of course there’s a lot of disillusionment with mainstream politics” but then only offering ‘advice’ to Sir Keir Starmer not to suffer “any sort of crisis of confidence with a 170-odd seat majority”, just plays into Nigel Farage’s hands.  What’s needed instead is an authoritative working class alternative at the ballot box. 

Trade union petition

To this end the steering committee agreed to back a new petition launched by 25 current and former trade union national executive members from eleven unions calling for steps to be taken now to establish a new political voice for working class people.

Under the heading, ‘Time for trade unions to take the lead in building a new working class party’, the petition text reads:

“The May 2025 election results show the need for a new party that the working class can trust”. 

“Stagnant wages, underfunded public services, the scandal of the housing crisis, Labour councils pursuing fire and rehire, cuts to pensioners’ winter fuel allowance, reductions in disability benefits, and continued government support for Israel’s murderous campaign in Gaza – and all under a Labour government.  Labour isn’t Labour anymore, and Reform UK is becoming a significant beneficiary of working people’s anger”. 

“We, the undersigned, believe it’s time for the trade union movement to seriously discuss founding a new anti-austerity, anti-war party.  Our movement will be weakened if workers see us as a voice for pro-austerity Labour.  We call for urgent discussions within our union and across unions to organise a conference to establish a political voice for working people”. 

“The Establishment has four parties – it’s time the working class had one of its own”.

The aim now is to build up the number of signatories of trade unionists from every level of our movement to add weight to the campaigns already under way in different unions for independent working class political action.  The petition can be signed online at https://www.change.org/TradeUnions-LaunchANewParty and the template to print out paper versions to use at meetings, demonstrations and so on is available at https://www.tusc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Petition-template.pdf.

A Reform spokesperson responded to Paul Nowak’s attack by claiming that he was “lashing out” because “workers are ripping up their trade union membership to join Reform”.  That’s certainly an exaggeration for now.  But it is a warning of the dangers ahead if the unions are seen as apologists for the Labour government and its austerity II agenda.

It really is time for the trade unions to take the lead in building a new working class party. ■

‘The alienation from establishment politics just got deeper’, is the main theme of the draft report on the May elections from the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC), now available at https://www.tusc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/2025-results-report.pdf.

With the detailed results of the 155 anti-cuts, anti-austerity candidates that stood in the elections on May 1st – including the 105 candidates who used one of the TUSC-registered descriptions on the ballot paper – the report will be debated at the next meeting of the TUSC all-Britain Steering Committee taking place on Wednesday May 7th before a final version is published on the Candidates’ page. ■

The local elections on May 1st, covering almost one-third of voters in England, will be a no choice experience for those who make it to the polling station – except in the modest number of seats, just under ten percent of the council wards or divisions with elections, where at least there will be a choice of an anti-cuts, anti-war candidate available.

One hundred and three of these, contesting seats in 21 local authorities in England, are using one of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) descriptions on their ballot paper, plus a candidate for the Mayor of Doncaster.  In addition there are at least 26 other candidates who are appearing on the ballot paper as independents or on behalf of a local community party, who are either former Labour Party members – or, sometimes, councillors – who are also standing in opposition to Keir Starmer’s austerity and war agenda.  And then there are a further 14 standing for other left-wing parties. 

If you really do think that it is time to vote for something different, and you are in one of the seats where there is a chance to do so, why not start on May 1st?

The final list of candidates using one of the TUSC descriptions on the ballot paper on May 1st can be found at https://www.tusc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Candidates-final-update.pdf.  This is one fewer than in previously published notices due to the sad death of the TUSC candidate, Karen Seymour, in the Mansfield North division of Nottinghamshire County Council – a committed socialist who had consistently stood in district and county seats in the town since 2011.  The re-scheduled vote there will now be held in June.

The further record of other anti-cuts and anti-war May election candidates is available at https://www.tusc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Left-Indy-candidates-on-May-1.pdf. 

With nominations closed for the local elections taking place on May 1st it is now officially confirmed that the sixth-biggest bloc of candidates – behind Labour, the Tories, Reform, the Lib Dems and the Greens – are those using one of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) descriptions on their ballot paper.

The number of seats up for election in the 23 councils with scheduled contests this May is 1,641, with by-elections taking place in some other councils too.  In total there are 102 candidates who are using a TUSC-registered description in these contests – around six percent of the seats – plus a TUSC candidate for the Mayor of Doncaster.  The full list is available at https://www.tusc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Candidates-final.pdf, with the council candidates presented in a regional breakdown.

Most of the candidates appear on the ballot paper with the description Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition next to their name but a number are using the new Independent Trade Union and Socialist Candidate descriptor, including two former Labour councillors in Doncaster.

Every candidate using a TUSC description is committed to stand up to the austerity establishment parties, including Reform, who have all shown themselves to be virtually indistinguishable when it comes to representing the interests of working class people.  The TUSC core policy platform for the May council elections – the minimum ‘six guarantees’ that candidates commit to – can be found at https://www.tusc.org.uk/21300/18-12-2024/our-six-guarantees-for-the-may-2025-local-elections/. 

The summary, however, is simple – every one of them will be a stop the new austerity candidate in the May 1st polls.

This is the highest number of trade unionist and socialist candidates that have stood in this four-year election cycle since TUSC’s formation (with elections previously in these seats in 2021, 2017 and 2013) – and the Starmer government is only nine months old.  The resistance is growing.  ■

There are other candidates who will be taking a similar stance on May 1st who, while not on this occasion appearing on the ballot paper with a TUSC description, will be supported by our coalition.  These include a number of candidates appearing on the ballot paper as ‘Independent’ – amongst the 550 or so independents standing this year – who could be properly described as anti-cuts and anti-war candidates.  We are currently collating information on these and will publish as comprehensive a list of alternative candidates as possible before polling day.

The campaign to offer a challenge to the austerity establishment parties in the elections taking place in Doncaster on May 1st has gathered momentum in the past week.

The acclaimed film-maker and playwright Ken Loach, producer of well-known films and documentaries such as Kes, Cathy Come Home, and I Daniel Blake – and many more dealing with social issues such as poverty, homelessness and workers’ rights – has sent a message of support to Tosh and Nikki McDonald who are standing as Independent Trade Union and Socialist candidates in the Town ward in the Doncaster city council elections.

Tosh is the former president of the train-drivers’ union ASLEF, and Nikki a former public sector trade union rep, and previously Labour councillors for the Town ward.

Ken Loach wrote: “Tosh and Nikki McDonald have long been committed to improving the daily lives of ordinary people.  They understand how to get things done, after great experience in political struggles and their work in their trade unions.  They stick to their principles, unlike Starmer’s Labour party, and they are the real opposition to the dangerous newcomers, led by Donald Trump’s ally Nigel Farage”.

“I am pleased to support Tosh and Nikki McDonald in the coming election – let’s ensure they win!’’

Tosh and Nikki say: “Both of us are former trade union representatives and have lived in Town ward since November 1999.  We have previous experience as councillors for this area, but we resigned from Labour in early 2021, as under Starmer it no longer represented working people so we finished our term as Independents until May 2021”.  

“Now we are back!  We are ready to give you, again, the full time help (being early retired) that you deserve.  As ‘Independent Trade Union and Socialist candidates’ we are fully free from Labour’s divisive local party politics and can concentrate fully on tackling the council issues that affect us all daily”.

“We stand for peace and love NOT war and hate”.

Mayoral challenge on

Tosh and Nikki are two of the eleven candidates standing for council seats using one of the TUSC-registered descriptions on the ballot paper in May, alongside Andy Hiles who is standing in the contest for the Doncaster city mayor taking place on the same day.

Andy says “I grew up supporting the 1984/85 miners’ strike, am a painter and decorator by trade, have worked in the building industry most of my adult life, and always been an active trade unionist representing members in the workplace”.

“I’m now a benefits advice buddy representing people at appeals and tribunals.  I’m standing for mayor to offer Doncaster people a working class and socialist alternative to the establishment parties and Reform”.  The challenge is on. ■

Andy’s insert in the election booklet that will be sent to every Doncaster voter for the mayoral contest can be read at https://www.tusc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Doncaster-booklet-insert.pdf

And a public meeting with Andy Hiles, Tosh McDonald, and the former Labour MP Dave Nellist (1983-1992) – who only took a workers’ wage when he was in Westminster not the bloated MPs’ salary – has been organised for Tuesday 22 April, 7pm, at C-View Centre, Church View, DN1 1AF, to which everyone is welcome.