Local elections, along with mayoral, police and crime commissioners, and London assembly ones, will be taking place on Thursday 2 May. You’re spoiled for choice at these – if you support right-wing capitalist parties – with the only main alternative coming in the form of the Green Party. However, in 280 councillor seats there is an alternative: so-called TUSC. So, it’s provided a helpful list of where all these are – along with other anti-cuts, anti-war candidates.
TUSC: standing in 280 seats at the local elections
As it becomes ever clearer that a Starmer-led Labour Party government will not represent the interests of working-class people in Britain or internationally, ever-growing numbers are looking at what the alternative should be at the ballot box during the local elections.
Every policy announcement from what Sir Keir proudly describes as “the changed Labour Party I lead” – from private sector leeching on the NHS, a refusal to meet the £4bn council funding gap, through to arms sales to Israel – shows that the establishment has a choice of parties to represent them while we have none.
But while declarations of prospective general election campaigns and candidacies against the Westminster consensus politicians are generating welcome attention, the date of that election, of course, is still not known.
In the meantime, however, millions of people will have the opportunity to vote in the local elections. The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) is standing in nearly one-in-seven of the council wards with scheduled elections this year. If you really do think that it is time to vote for something different, why not start on 2 May?
The core policy platform
The TUSC core policy platform for our May 2024 council candidates can be found here.
As it rightly says, the councillors that people elect now will effectively be our communities’ negotiators with the new government – for the funding that’s needed to protect, improve, and expand people’s vital local public services.
So, the TUSC says:
That’s why every vote for a TUSC council candidate will be the clearest possible signal we can give on 2 May that whoever ends up in Number Ten, we need fighting councillors in our town halls!
Lending your support elsewhere in the local elections
But the TUSC knows that there are other candidates who should also be supported who are standing outside of the TUSC coalition umbrella.
So, alongside the TUSC candidates’ list, it has published them in a separate list – so together, communities can produce the most comprehensive list possible of where you can vote for stop the cuts, stop the war candidates on 2 May’s local elections.
The final list of the 280 TUSC candidates on the ballot paper on May 2nd can be found here.
The further list of other stop the cuts and stop the war May local election candidates is available here.
This comprises 62 council candidates; an alternative list for the London-wide members section of the Greater London Authority assembly; one police and crime commissioner candidate; and two Combined Authority Mayoral candidates – including Jamie Driscoll for the new North East authority, regularly referred to in the establishment media as ‘the last Corbynista in office’.
Featured image via TUSC
