A look at this weeks big elections, TUSC still finding its feet

I've heard many comments about TUSC's performance this week in various elections many writing TUSC off and many saying its never going to happen voters still prefer labour just to get rid of the tories. This may well be true at this time but Labour lost 10k votes in Manchester Central this time despite keeping hold of the seat. Its still early days for TUSC as a electoral force on the main stage. We are limited in resources and numbers on the ground. Our votes go up and down but at this stage as the post below posted on the TUSC website we dont feel at this stage we can draw any definitive conclusions for TUSC and the project for a new mass workers party. There is still the need for such a party given no political party is offering anything for working people just more of teh same all be it at a slightly slower pace. Just a note on the Police Crime commisioner elections some dreadful turnouts with many not voting some areas not even recording a vote shows the publics indifference to elected police commisioners and is a hugely humiliating record for this Con-dem gov. This can finally put the nail in the coffin when tories use low turnout figures which are partly to do with teh harshest anti trade union laws in the western world when these elections have been so poorly supported. No more attacks on the unions strike ballots given this bit of embarrassing news for the tories. WITH A £5,000 deposit required to get on to the ballot paper – but with no candidates’ freepost mailshot available – TUSC did not field any candidates in the Police Commissioner elections held on November 15, dubbed by the media as Britain’s ‘super Thursday’ with 40 million people eligible to vote. But TUSC did stand candidates in the Manchester Central parliamentary by-election, the Bristol mayoral election, and three council by-elections, held on the same day. In Bristol the TUSC candidate Tom Baldwin, the youngest contender in the field, polled 1,412 votes. For comparison the Liberal Democrats, who lead the city council, polled just over six thousand votes while the Greens, with two city councillors, managed 5,248 votes. In Manchester Central Labour held the seat while TUSC candidate Alex Davidson polled 220 votes. Showing how alienated working class people are from all ‘politics’ at this stage – not making it easy for a new force to make a breakthrough – the by-election saw the lowest ever turnout in a peacetime parliamentary by-election, at 18.1%. In the council by-elections, TUSC’s vote ranged from 3.9% in Rugby’s New Bilton ward to 2.2% in Manchester Ardwick ward – although in Liverpool’s Knotty Ash ward Charley Cosgrove outpolled both the Conservatives and the Greens. UKIP polled more votes than TUSC in four of the contests but not overwhelmingly so – despite Nigel Farage’s Question Time season ticket (while TUSC faces a media blackout). In reality not too much can be drawn from a handful of electoral contests, either ‘writing off’ TUSC or exaggerating the possibilities at this stage. The most important fact is still the absence of a vehicle for working class political representation, given Labour’s broad acceptance of the capitalists’ austerity agenda. Standing in elections is part of the struggle to build one. Bristol Mayoral election: Bristol First 31,321; Labour 25,896; Conservative 8,136; Lib Dems 6,202; Green 5,248; Independent 2,404; Independent 1,855; Respect 1,568; Independent 1,413; TUSC 1,412 (1.6%); Independent 1,037; Independent 994; Independent 761; Independent 494; Independent 411. Manchester Central parliamentary by-election: Labour 11,507; Lib Dems 1.571; Conservative 754; UKIP 749; Green 652; BNP 492; Pirate Party 308; TUSC 220 (1.3%); Respect 182; MRLP 78; People’s Democratic 71; Comm League 64. Rugby council, New Bilton ward by-election: Labour 496; Conservative 192; Green 100; UKIP 82; Indpendent 56; Lib Dems 41; TUSC 39 (3.9%). Liverpool council, Knotty Ash ward by-election: Labour 1,213; Lib Dems 149; Liberal 131; UKIP 101; English Democrats 50; TUSC 48 (2.7%); Conseravtive 40; Green 36. Manchester council, Ardwick ward by-election: Labour 1,904; Green 120; Lib Dems 94; Conservative 92; UKIP 61; TUSC 52 (2.2%); BNP 43. For a full breakdown of TUSC’s May results see http://www.tusc.org.uk/pdfs/2012/TUSC_Results_Report.pdf

Vote for the no cuts alternative with TUSC this week in by elections

This week there are a few important by elections in England on the 15th of November. These elections are far more important than the police and crime commissioner elections being staged on the same day very few people are interested in another layer of bureaucracy and very few people will be voting I suspect. But an election people should vote in will be this Thursday in Manchester central, Corby and Bristol for the position of mayor. TUSC is standing in all of these elections and is backing the DPAC candidate for Corby on a no cuts platform. These elections will be interesting to see how TUSC is developing between elections. Many people say we still don’t know enough about TUSC well talk on the ground suggests we are getting a good response and are hopefully of a decent vote come Thursday. We do not expect to win but the fact we are standing and laying down a marker for future struggles raises the banner of TUSC and that no to all cuts alternative which no other candidate can offer. Our candidates are Tom Baldwin in Bristol running for mayor a young youth activist who has done a lot of work working with young people and has made some solid pledges already if elected to only take the average wage of a skilled worker of Bristol I think this could have a echo given the recent scandal of Dennis Mcshane who has had to resign from his seat in Rotherham for fiddling his expenses, TUSC incidentally will be standing in that by election too whenever it is called. Asked what he would do first if and when elected Tom was quoted as saying “Reverse the programme of care home closures in Bristol”. Our second candidate is Alex Davidson standing in Manchester Central Alex is a good solid trade unionist and is representative of PCS in the North West and fights every day for his members in the PCS and public sector workers. Alex has been very critical of the report released in the last few weeks by Michael Heseltine Alex said recently “Heseltine is infamous throughout the labour movement for his role in the 1980s Thatcher government. He oversaw an assault on social housing when environment minister, and was the man responsible for the final massacre of the coal industry as president of the Board of Trade in the early. Heseltine's recent report stated that the government "does not have a strategy for growth and wealth creation", reflecting a growing panic among the ruling class. The recent, heavily doctored 'growth' figures confirm that the government is desperately casting around for some 'good news'. Heseltine's report recommends that the government uses £49 billion to "stimulate growth in the regions". He also recommends that the government act as a stimulator for growth. This echoes much of what Chancellor George Osborne himself said about the "march of the makers" to replace lost jobs in the public sector. In reality, manufacturing has continued its long-term decline throughout the Con-Dems' two years in power. Areas like Manchester have never recovered from the deindustrialisation carried out by Thatcher and Heseltine's government. The current government has no commitment to saving skilled manufacturing jobs, as shown by their attitude to mass layoffs proposed by Ford in Southampton and Dagenham. Disgracefully, the Heseltine report was embraced by the Trades Union Congress and the New Labour front bench. If New Labour was serious about tackling the economic crisis, they would adopt the policy that has been embraced by unions like the Fire Brigades Union: nationalisation of the banks and the use of those resources to fund a meaningful programme of public works, such as the building of social housing and the upgrading of transport infrastructure. But Labour will not put forward anything like this. That is why I am standing in the Manchester Central by-election. As a Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition candidate, I am supported by trade union militants who recognise that the working class needs their own party with a socialist programme - not one that embraces an anti-working class Tory Lord. “ This blog wish’s all TUSC and anti cuts candidates luck and look forward to helping the building of a mass party of the working class with socialist principles and policies to match in the coming years. for more information on TUSC check out www.tusc.org.uk