Labour gain in local elections but will they stand up to Tories against the cuts?

Last nights elections results showed a swing to labour from Tories and the lib dems. Labour has taken control of lots of new councils. But to me this is more of a vote against the Tories and the government than a vote for labours slow cuts policy to be honest.

You only have to look at the appalling turnout figures across the country typically between 20 and 30 percent. That is dreadful and says much for the current state of our democracy or excuse for a democracy in this country when so few people can be bothered to vote I think the time is nearly up for the major political parties out there offering you the same old crap served up with a different shade of tie on.

So will labour mount a stronger fight back at a local level against cuts ? I personally can’t see it more councillors and more labor run councils means nothing. When up till now all labour councils have happily passed on all Tory cuts handed to them without as much as a whimper there’s nothing to suggest this trend won’t continue. Of course I’d over it if a labour ran council did refuse to make the cuts but from those councillors who have already one has found himself expelled for daring to vote against the labour group and the other is still under investigation. So if any do and I really hope some do they will be in for a severe ticking off. The only voice for anti cuts will be TUSC still who unfortunately did not poll hugely or win big, but we weren’t expecting to. With a disgraceful media blackout of our campaigns we received reasonable votes in places unfortunately loosing out to the fact people who did vote largely voted for labour to give the Tories a kicking, this was their choice as at the moment they are still seen as the only opposition to the Tories wrongly in my view but there we go those illusions still hold strong in a lot of areas. But as the cuts begin to bite harder and harder and no fight back from labour councils is forthcoming parties like TUSC can get a better hearing I’d have thought with people finally seeing that labour when it comes down to it would do very little different to the Tories in power.

TUSC is well placed to expose labour for its hypocrisy and outright lies that it defends ordinary people TUSC rejects all cuts whoever is making them but when labour makes the cuts people will see the true face of the labour party and will be looking for an alternative.

Our ideas did get a good reception on the doorstep but unfortunately much like last year that isn’t translating into votes. That doesn’t mean to say we don’t have the support it just mans people are not yet rushing to the polling stations to affect change. They don’t believe in the system and well neither do we but we do at least offer an alternative to the cuts agenda of the main 3 parties.

Labour will not face up to the Tories and reject all the cuts for the simple reason as they do not see an alternative. They could be looking to tax the rich and collect the 120 billion which goes evaded and avoided every eyar but do we hear labour shouting about the rich ? No we don’t we hear them joining in with bashing the poor rhetoric and anti worker sentiment. Even last night on BBC question time Hariot Harman the deputy leader of the labour party could not even support public sector workers going on strike she said she hopes there isn’t a strike, well so do we and the government backs down but they wont so strike action is necessary and will be important to building the fight back again against the government and this rotten capitalist system where the poor aware being made to pay for a crisis not of their making.

These local elections results tell you something though that 68% of people are not voting and that those can be won over to voting for an alternative, a socialist alternative in years to come. As Marxists we see everything as a process and constantly changing. TUSC will stand again and again and again building our roots in the working class so next time people will know us and know our record of opposing all cuts and defending working class people wherever we can. Labour will be exposed mark my words their idea of slow cuts will do nothing to ease the pain on ordinary people at the bottom of society and one day all capitalist parties and ideas will be rejected once and for all.