Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition | |
---|---|
Abbreviation | TUSC |
Leader | Dave Nellist [1] |
Founded | 2010 |
Headquarters | 17 Colebert House Colbert Avenue London E1 4JP [2] |
Ideology | |
Political position | Left-wing [3] [4] to far-left [5] |
Colours | Pink, brown and red |
Members | |
Election symbol | |
Website | |
www | |
Part of a series on |
Socialism in the United Kingdom |
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Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) is a socialist electoral alliance in Britain. It was originally launched for the 2010 general election. [6] [7] [8]
TUSC's co-founder was the RMT union general secretary Bob Crow. Members of the PCS, Unison, NEU, UCU, Napo and POA unions are on the steering committee. The biggest component section of TUSC was the RMT [9] until they disaffiliated at the 2022 RMT AGM. [10] The most prominent participating political groups are the Socialist Party and the Resistance Movement. [9] TUSC stood 135 (parliamentary) candidates across England, Wales and Scotland at the 2015 general election [11] and 619 the same day in local government elections. [12]
Following the election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the Labour Party, TUSC did not stand candidates in the 2017 UK general election and suspended electoral activity in November 2018. [13] It did not contest the 2019 general elections, stating: "TUSC recalibrated its electoral activity following Jeremy Corbyn’s election as Labour leader, a development which it warmly welcomed.". [14] In July 2020, after Jeremy Corbyn stood down, the Socialist Party called for the relaunch of the alliance [15] and in September the TUSC steering committee agreed to resume standing candidates in the 2021 UK local elections. [9] It stood further candidates in the 2022 UK local elections. [16]
At the March 2009 Socialist Party congress, RMT executive members Alex Gordon and Brian Denny addressed Socialist Party delegates in an official capacity, outlining the RMT's proposal for workers' slates in the European elections in June. At a later congress session this initiative was formally agreed by congress delegates, and No to EU – Yes to Democracy (NO2EU) was formed. [17] NO2EU, an electoral alliance, headed by Bob Crow, between the RMT, the Communist Party of Britain and the Socialist Party, subsequently led to the formation of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition. The Socialist Party, which had previously participated in the Socialist Alliance and Welsh Socialist Alliance and backed the Campaign for a New Workers' Party, termed No2EU "an important first step towards independent working class political representation", despite criticisms of the name and other minor issues. [18] The Socialist Party stated it "would prefer a name that includes 'socialism', for marked ideological contrast to New Labour, and also one that makes it clear that the coalition is a working class alternative." [18] Nevertheless, the Socialist Party noted the success of Die Linke in Germany, the New Anticapitalist Party in France and Coalition of the Radical Left in Greece, and emphasized the need for a "genuine socialist alternative" in the European elections. [19] [20] [21]
After the European elections, in July 2009, the CPB released a statement [22] expressing willingness to continue the No2EU programme and support left-wing alliance candidates in some constituencies, but also called for a vote for Labour Party candidates in others. However, on 17 January 2010 the executive committee of the Communist Party declined to formally participate in the coalition. [23]
Negotiations to found the coalition continued over several months after the EU election. One proposed name for the coalition was "Trade Unionists and Green Socialists Alliance". [24] The RMT, which had formally supported No2EU, initially decided, in January 2010, not to similarly back TUSC, but allowed individual branches to support it. [25] It later gave TUSC candidates its full backing (see below). On 12 January 2010, the coalition was announced [26] and subsequently, the RMT National Council of Executives supported 20 TUSC candidates on receipt of local RMT branch requests. [27] TUSC chairperson Dave Nellist stood as a candidate for the coalition in the constituency of Coventry North East. Among the other candidates were Jackie Grunsell in Colne Valley constituency, Keith Gibson in Hull West and Hessle, Dave Hill in Brighton Kemptown, Ian Page in Lewisham Deptford, Rob Williams in Swansea West and Tim Cutter in Southampton Itchen.
Some political groups such as the Alliance for Workers Liberty and the Weekly Worker newspaper have argued that the coalition was formed in secret and without democratic input. [28]
Meanwhile, just after the 2009 European Elections, the Socialist Workers Party, which had not taken part in No2EU but which had itself been part of the Socialist Alliance and the Respect Party, published its "Open Letter to the Left", [29] in which it called for "a united fightback to save jobs and services" and subsequently joined TUSC; it left TUSC (England and wales) in 2017, but remained part of the autonomous Scottish TUSC for a time, [30] before leaving entirely. [31]
In July 2020, the Socialist Party called for the relaunch of the electoral alliance [15] and in September the TUSC steering committee agreed to resume standing candidates in the 2021 UK local elections. [9]
On 20 January 2022, it was announced that a "memorandum of understanding" had been agreed between TUSC, the Breakthrough Party, the Northern Independence Party and Left Unity. This alliance, known as the People's Alliance of the Left (PAL) would see the four parties work together on a future electoral strategy. [32] It did not last long, however, as TUSC was removed from PAL after its Steering Committee agreed "observer status" for the Workers Party of Britain, led by George Galloway. [33] In a statement, the NIP said that degrading statements made both by Galloway and other Workers Party members about women, non-binary people and immigration had made it impossible for TUSC to remain part of PAL. [34]
Towards the end of July 2023, a left-wing political party merger between Breakthrough, Left Unity, People's Alliance of the Left and Liverpool Community Independents under the name " Transform" was proposed. [35] [36] It was proposed in response to "an era of crisis" which the party merger proposal claims to be "a political organisation that offers a real solution" to. The party merger proposal also has 10 "core principles". If put forward, 5 left-wing parties will be merged, although it is not known for sure whether TUSC is considered to be a part of this merger.
Three Annual General Meetings (2012, 2013 and 2014) of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) under the leadership of Bob Crow, endorsed RMT support for TUSC candidates and the RMT was formally represented on the TUSC steering committee.
TUSC claimed in September 2020 that the RMT executive urged TUSC to resume electoral activity after Jeremy Corbyn stepped down as Labour Party leader. TUSC stated: 'Representatives from the biggest component organisation of TUSC, the RMT transport workers’ union, reported to the [TUSC national steering committee] meeting on September 2, that the union’s national executive committee had debated the matter over the summer. They had agreed that, “in the new conditions of a Starmer leadership and the continued implementation of austerity cuts by many Labour-led authorities, we believe it is correct for TUSC to lift its suspension of electoral activity”. And that is what the steering committee agreed.' [37]
After the relaunch of TUSC, the November 11, 2021 steering committee meeting was attended, in a personal capacity, by members of the executives of five different unions: the public sector union, UNISON; the National Education Union (NEU); the PCS civil servants' union; the University and College Union (UCU); and the family court and probation workers' union NAPO. The RMT was absent. [38]
In 2022, under newly elected General Secretary Sharon Graham, Unite responded to TUSC's invitation and formally deputised the union’s Lead for Local Government, Onay Kasab, to TUSC's annual conference on Sunday February 6 to 'explain the extremely significant decision of [Unite's] recent policy conference to call on “Labour councils to set legal, balanced no cuts needs based budgets” rather than meekly accept the Tories’ austerity agenda', which echoed a policy position of TUSC. [39] [40]
Previously, in February 2015, senior figures from Unite the Union condemned the Socialist Party and by implication TUSC, for standing candidates against Labour in marginal constituencies for the 2015 general election. The open letter addressed to the Socialist Party, which does not mention TUSC, accuses the Socialist Party of having a "derisory" electoral record. [41] In response, the Socialist Party claimed that a Labour government "would be at best austerity-lite and a continuation of the crisis that faces working class people". [42]
TUSC is an umbrella organisation with a federal structure. [43] It has been registered as a political party with the Electoral Commission since 2010. All candidates supporting the coalition must support a core policy platform, but beyond this each candidate is free to campaign on the platform of their own political party. [25]
Each of TUSC's constituent organisations is entitled to have representatives on the All-Britain Steering Committee, where they engage in decision-making regarding policy, strategy, and the selection of candidates. Until 2022, these organisations included, most notably, the RMT, the Socialist Party, the Socialist Party Scotland (Scottish TUSC), and the Resistance Movement. [43]
TUSC participants in Scotland are nationally organised with an autonomous Scottish TUSC Steering Committee. Additionally, local branches of TUSC each have their own steering committees established for local government areas and parliamentary constituencies where TUSC contests seats. [43]
The following organisations have been involved in TUSC at various times:
Under the title "TUSC backs the 'Rochdale insurgency against establishment politicians", published two weeks prior to the landslide victory of George Galloway [50] in the Rochdale by-election of 1 March 2024, TUSC posted a press release announcing: "An insurgency against the capitalist establishment and their tame politicians is brewing in Rochdale, and not just there. It’s obvious which side trade unionists and socialists should be on”. [51]
The press release further added: "The Workers Party of Britain, on whose ticket George Galloway is standing in Rochdale, has participated in the TUSC all-Britain steering committee since they were given observer status at its meetings in March 2022” and emphasised, "TUSC was always conceived from its foundation in 2010 by Bob Crow and others as an inclusive coalition...”
“A broad coalition, rather than a closed one, inevitably has to involve collaboration – and robust debate – between organisations and groups within the working class movement holding often sharply different views.”
Nevertheless, all candidates are expected to support a set of core policies, as decided at TUSC conference prior to the relevant elections.
2024
In January 2024, the core TUSC policies were announced as: [52]
● Oppose all cuts and closures to council services, jobs, pay and conditions.
● Vote for councils to use their reserves and prudential borrowing powers to avoid making cuts in their 2024-2025 budgets and demand from the incoming government additional funding to make up any future shortfall.
● Refuse to co-operate with any commissioners appointed by the Tories to attempt to impose cuts on local services.
● Demand that councils as employers refuse to issue ‘work notices’ against strikers under the new anti-union Minimum Service Levels Act.
● Reject council tax, rent and service charge increases for working-class people to make up for cuts in central funding, support a new redistributive revenue-raising system to finance local council services, and demand central government restores the cuts in funding imposed since 2010.
● Oppose the privatisation of council jobs and services, or the transfer of existing council services to social enterprises or ‘arms-length’ management organisations which are the first steps to their privatisation.
● Use councils’ powers to immediately begin a mass building programme of eco-friendly affordable council homes to tackle the housing crisis.
● Support democratically debated local Climate Emergency plans that create new employment, reduce emissions and improve air quality and the local environment, while protecting the jobs, pay and conditions of all workers.
● Fight for united working-class struggle against racism, sexism and all forms of oppression.
● Back all workers’ struggles against government policies making ordinary people pay for the crisis.
2015
Prior to 2024, TUSC's last major election campaign was in 2015, as it did not stand against Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party. TUSC launched its manifesto for the 2015 general election in London's financial district of Canary Wharf. [53]
Five key pledges in 2015
The 2015 manifesto outlines "five key pledges": [54]
TUSC local election candidates sign up to a platform, [54] which commits them to:
Year | No. of candidates | Total votes | Average votes per candidate | % of vote | Change (% points) | Saved deposits* | No. of MPs | Rank |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2010 | 44 | 15,573 | 354 | 0.1 | 0 | |||
2015 | 126 | 36,327 | 284 | 0.1 | 0 | |||
Did not stand candidates | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
2019 | Did not stand candidates | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
TUSC and the Scottish TUSC (STUSC) announced 44 parliamentary candidates for the 2010 general election, including ten in Scotland. [55] They received a total of 15,573 votes, or 0.1% of the popular vote. TUSC's average vote nationwide was around 371 (1.0%); no deposits were returned. TUSC was registered with the Electoral Commission in January 2010. [56]
TUSC claimed that the possibilities of electoral success should not be exaggerated. TUSC consistently stated that "not too much can be drawn from a handful of electoral contests, either 'writing off' TUSC or exaggerating the possibilities at this stage." [57] Another claimed factor in 2010 was a perceived "squeeze" [58] that generated disappointing results for many smaller parties. "Fear of a Tory government galvanised people to vote Labour, and we were squeezed. People were too afraid to demand something better for fear of getting something worse." Tottenham candidate Jenny Sutton claimed. [59]
TUSC stood 135 prospective parliamentary candidates across England, Wales and Scotland, [11] as well as 619 council candidates in local elections. [12]
The organisation announced in October 2014 that it had received a guarantee of funding from Socialist Alliance. [60] The funds would provide for one hundred deposits in parliamentary contests, as well as a Party Political Broadcast. [61]
The party performed badly at the election, winning 36,327 votes, or 0.1% of the popular vote. No parliamentary seats were gained and no deposits were saved. [62] [63]
TUSC called for a victory for Labour in the 2017 general election and did not run candidates in the elections. [64]
TUSC did not contest the 2019 general elections, stating: "TUSC recalibrated its electoral activity following Jeremy Corbyn’s election as Labour leader, a development which it warmly welcomed." [65]
TUSC stood 174 candidates in the May 2011 council elections. [66] In 13 seats TUSC polled over 10% and in over a quarter polled more than 5%.
TUSC stood a total number of 24 candidates out of two Welsh Assembly regions in the 2011 Welsh Assembly elections in which it came 10th place out of 11 parties in the South Wales West region with 809 votes (0.5%) and for the South Wales Central region, it came 11th place out of 12 parties with 830 votes (0.4%). It gained 1,639 votes in total with 0.2% nationwide.
TUSC stood 132 candidates in 38 councils, with 17 candidates for the London Assembly. Two TUSC-backed candidates were elected, Michael Lavalette in Preston and Peter Smith in Walsall. [67] In the council elections in England and Wales TUSC candidates averaged 6.2% of the poll. Tony Mulhearn, one of the 47 Liverpool Councillors who refused to set a budget for the council, and led a campaign of defiance of the Conservative government in the 1980s stood as the candidate for Mayor of Liverpool, coming fifth with 4.86% of the vote. In Scotland, 38 candidates stood in nine councils as the Scottish Anti-Cuts Coalition (SACC). [68] The TUSC campaign for the London Assembly was launched by Bob Crow of the RMT and Matt Wrack of the FBU, [69] and candidates included Alex Gordon, President of the RMT trade union and April Ashley a member of the UNISON National Executive.
TUSC stood candidates in the 2012 by-elections for Manchester Central (garnering 1.3%), Middlesbrough (1.6%) and Rotherham (1.3%).
A total of 120 candidates contested the English local elections on 2 May under the TUSC umbrella, 5% of the seats. In addition, TUSC stood a candidate in the Doncaster mayoral contest and two candidates in council by-elections that were held on the same day. It was mainly county councils up for election, largely Conservative controlled. The TUSC candidate for the mayor of Doncaster, Mary Jackson, polled 1,916 votes, achieving sixth place, ahead of the Liberal Democrats.
TUSC stood in the Eastleigh by-election. Candidate Daz Procter achieved 0.15% of the vote. Up to mid-November 2013, TUSC had contested 27 council by-elections in 2013 (with candidates in place for ten more). TUSC's average percentage share of the vote in these seats was just under 6%. Joe Robinson won a seat for TUSC on Maltby Town Council.
TUSC announced the 'biggest left-of-Labour electoral challenge in 60 years' in the 2014 local elections, fielding 561 candidates. [70] There were 53 candidates who were members of the RMT transport workers' union, 19 Communication Workers' Union members who were candidates, 18 members of the National Union of Teachers, 16 PCS members, 20 members of the university and College Union. From the big Labour-affiliated unions, there were 74 Unison members standing for TUSC and 130 members of Unite. TUSC gained two seats in Southampton with the defection of Don Thomas from Labour and the re-election of Keith Morrell, also previously Labour, as Councillors Against Cuts, [71] as well as a second seat on Maltby Town Council. The overall popular votes achieved in the campaign exceeded 68,000. [72]
TUSC lost its representation in Maltby in the autumn of 2014 with the removal of their two councillors for non-attendance, [73] and lost its Preston councillor when Michael Lavalette retired his seat. [74] However, TUSC gained two affiliated councillors in the shape of Hull Red Labour, following their expulsion from Labour in 2014. [75] In January 2015, TUSC gained a councillor in Warrington (Fairfield and Howley ward) with the defection of Kevin Bennett from Labour. [76]
TUSC renewed its promise to field the largest left-of-Labour challenge in the parliamentary and local authority elections. It bolstered its 2014 local election candidacy count by 70, bringing the total to 650. As it also fielded 135 PPCs, in every major town and city in England, Wales, and Scotland, TUSC subsequently exceeded the overall number of candidates to satisfy the BBC's fair coverage threshold, qualifying it for distribution of election material via the Royal Mail, as well as time on the major networks for the airing of a Party Election Broadcast. [77]
TUSC gained no seats (and, in one ward, no votes) and lost three anti-cuts councillors in Leicester and Hull. They retain one affiliated councillor each in Warrington, Walsall and Hull, and two in Southampton. [78]
Following the 2016 elections, TUSC had three councillors in Southampton under the banner of Coxford Putting People First, [79] Kevin Bennett having lost his seat in Warrington; [80] Hull Red Labour and Walsall Democratic Labour also lost their remaining seats.
Welsh TUSC candidates obtained 2,040 Regional votes, 0.2% of the votes.[ citation needed]
TUSC stood a total of 78 council candidates in 24 councils across England, Scotland and Wales, contesting 71 wards or divisions. TUSC also stood candidates in two of the eight Mayoral elections held on 4 May.[ citation needed]
Following the 2018 elections, TUSC retained at least one affiliated councillor in Coxford, Southampton, following the re-election (as Independent - Putting People First) of TUSC national steering committee member Keith Morrell. [81] Two other former Putting People First councillors also retain their seats as Independents, but the group has since dissolved. [82] Morrell resigned in 2019. [83]
TUSC claimed to have put up nearly 300 candidates in the 2021 UK local elections. [84]
Dave Nellist stood for TUSC in the 2022 Birmingham Erdington by-election, [85] [86] [87] finished in third place on 2.1% with 360 votes. [88]
Year | Regional Vote | Constituency Vote | Overall Seats | Change | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2011 | 1,639 votes | 0.2% | 0 / 20
|
– | – | 0 / 40
|
0 / 60
|
New Party |
2016 | 2,040 votes | 0.2% | 0 / 20
|
– | – | 0 / 40
|
0 / 60
|
|
2021 | 1,647 votes | 0.2% | 0 / 20
|
– | – | 0 / 40
|
0 / 60
|
Year | Regional Vote | Constituency Vote | Overall Seats | Change | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2016 | – | – | 0 / 56
|
3,540 votes | 0.1% | 0 / 73
|
0 / 129
|
New Party |
2021 | 1,404 votes | 0.1% | 0 / 56
|
959 votes | 0.0% | 0 / 73
|
0 / 129
|
Year | Regional Vote | Constituency Vote | Overall Seats | Change | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2021 | 9,004 votes | 0.3% | 0 / 11
|
8,011 votes | 0.3% | 0 / 14
|
0 / 25
|
New Party |
The motion by Nick Wrack, who was readmitted to Labour after standing against Harman for the left-wing TUSC party four years ago, cites the precedent of Tories warning they would stand a candidate against John Bercow if he stayed on.
The left-wing party Trade Union and Socialist Party (TUSC) is fielding eight would-be councillors for seats on City of York Council, as well as a parliamentary candidate in York Central.
Britain's largest far-left party, the Trade Union Socialist Coalition (TUSC), founded by the late Bob Crow, is standing no candidates this year.
They are members and supporters of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC); a left-wing political group standing candidates across the UK at the general election
David Nellist will contest the election for the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition. He served as Labour MP for Coventry South East between 1983 and 1992.
Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition | |
---|---|
Abbreviation | TUSC |
Leader | Dave Nellist [1] |
Founded | 2010 |
Headquarters | 17 Colebert House Colbert Avenue London E1 4JP [2] |
Ideology | |
Political position | Left-wing [3] [4] to far-left [5] |
Colours | Pink, brown and red |
Members | |
Election symbol | |
Website | |
www | |
Part of a series on |
Socialism in the United Kingdom |
---|
Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) is a socialist electoral alliance in Britain. It was originally launched for the 2010 general election. [6] [7] [8]
TUSC's co-founder was the RMT union general secretary Bob Crow. Members of the PCS, Unison, NEU, UCU, Napo and POA unions are on the steering committee. The biggest component section of TUSC was the RMT [9] until they disaffiliated at the 2022 RMT AGM. [10] The most prominent participating political groups are the Socialist Party and the Resistance Movement. [9] TUSC stood 135 (parliamentary) candidates across England, Wales and Scotland at the 2015 general election [11] and 619 the same day in local government elections. [12]
Following the election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the Labour Party, TUSC did not stand candidates in the 2017 UK general election and suspended electoral activity in November 2018. [13] It did not contest the 2019 general elections, stating: "TUSC recalibrated its electoral activity following Jeremy Corbyn’s election as Labour leader, a development which it warmly welcomed.". [14] In July 2020, after Jeremy Corbyn stood down, the Socialist Party called for the relaunch of the alliance [15] and in September the TUSC steering committee agreed to resume standing candidates in the 2021 UK local elections. [9] It stood further candidates in the 2022 UK local elections. [16]
At the March 2009 Socialist Party congress, RMT executive members Alex Gordon and Brian Denny addressed Socialist Party delegates in an official capacity, outlining the RMT's proposal for workers' slates in the European elections in June. At a later congress session this initiative was formally agreed by congress delegates, and No to EU – Yes to Democracy (NO2EU) was formed. [17] NO2EU, an electoral alliance, headed by Bob Crow, between the RMT, the Communist Party of Britain and the Socialist Party, subsequently led to the formation of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition. The Socialist Party, which had previously participated in the Socialist Alliance and Welsh Socialist Alliance and backed the Campaign for a New Workers' Party, termed No2EU "an important first step towards independent working class political representation", despite criticisms of the name and other minor issues. [18] The Socialist Party stated it "would prefer a name that includes 'socialism', for marked ideological contrast to New Labour, and also one that makes it clear that the coalition is a working class alternative." [18] Nevertheless, the Socialist Party noted the success of Die Linke in Germany, the New Anticapitalist Party in France and Coalition of the Radical Left in Greece, and emphasized the need for a "genuine socialist alternative" in the European elections. [19] [20] [21]
After the European elections, in July 2009, the CPB released a statement [22] expressing willingness to continue the No2EU programme and support left-wing alliance candidates in some constituencies, but also called for a vote for Labour Party candidates in others. However, on 17 January 2010 the executive committee of the Communist Party declined to formally participate in the coalition. [23]
Negotiations to found the coalition continued over several months after the EU election. One proposed name for the coalition was "Trade Unionists and Green Socialists Alliance". [24] The RMT, which had formally supported No2EU, initially decided, in January 2010, not to similarly back TUSC, but allowed individual branches to support it. [25] It later gave TUSC candidates its full backing (see below). On 12 January 2010, the coalition was announced [26] and subsequently, the RMT National Council of Executives supported 20 TUSC candidates on receipt of local RMT branch requests. [27] TUSC chairperson Dave Nellist stood as a candidate for the coalition in the constituency of Coventry North East. Among the other candidates were Jackie Grunsell in Colne Valley constituency, Keith Gibson in Hull West and Hessle, Dave Hill in Brighton Kemptown, Ian Page in Lewisham Deptford, Rob Williams in Swansea West and Tim Cutter in Southampton Itchen.
Some political groups such as the Alliance for Workers Liberty and the Weekly Worker newspaper have argued that the coalition was formed in secret and without democratic input. [28]
Meanwhile, just after the 2009 European Elections, the Socialist Workers Party, which had not taken part in No2EU but which had itself been part of the Socialist Alliance and the Respect Party, published its "Open Letter to the Left", [29] in which it called for "a united fightback to save jobs and services" and subsequently joined TUSC; it left TUSC (England and wales) in 2017, but remained part of the autonomous Scottish TUSC for a time, [30] before leaving entirely. [31]
In July 2020, the Socialist Party called for the relaunch of the electoral alliance [15] and in September the TUSC steering committee agreed to resume standing candidates in the 2021 UK local elections. [9]
On 20 January 2022, it was announced that a "memorandum of understanding" had been agreed between TUSC, the Breakthrough Party, the Northern Independence Party and Left Unity. This alliance, known as the People's Alliance of the Left (PAL) would see the four parties work together on a future electoral strategy. [32] It did not last long, however, as TUSC was removed from PAL after its Steering Committee agreed "observer status" for the Workers Party of Britain, led by George Galloway. [33] In a statement, the NIP said that degrading statements made both by Galloway and other Workers Party members about women, non-binary people and immigration had made it impossible for TUSC to remain part of PAL. [34]
Towards the end of July 2023, a left-wing political party merger between Breakthrough, Left Unity, People's Alliance of the Left and Liverpool Community Independents under the name " Transform" was proposed. [35] [36] It was proposed in response to "an era of crisis" which the party merger proposal claims to be "a political organisation that offers a real solution" to. The party merger proposal also has 10 "core principles". If put forward, 5 left-wing parties will be merged, although it is not known for sure whether TUSC is considered to be a part of this merger.
Three Annual General Meetings (2012, 2013 and 2014) of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) under the leadership of Bob Crow, endorsed RMT support for TUSC candidates and the RMT was formally represented on the TUSC steering committee.
TUSC claimed in September 2020 that the RMT executive urged TUSC to resume electoral activity after Jeremy Corbyn stepped down as Labour Party leader. TUSC stated: 'Representatives from the biggest component organisation of TUSC, the RMT transport workers’ union, reported to the [TUSC national steering committee] meeting on September 2, that the union’s national executive committee had debated the matter over the summer. They had agreed that, “in the new conditions of a Starmer leadership and the continued implementation of austerity cuts by many Labour-led authorities, we believe it is correct for TUSC to lift its suspension of electoral activity”. And that is what the steering committee agreed.' [37]
After the relaunch of TUSC, the November 11, 2021 steering committee meeting was attended, in a personal capacity, by members of the executives of five different unions: the public sector union, UNISON; the National Education Union (NEU); the PCS civil servants' union; the University and College Union (UCU); and the family court and probation workers' union NAPO. The RMT was absent. [38]
In 2022, under newly elected General Secretary Sharon Graham, Unite responded to TUSC's invitation and formally deputised the union’s Lead for Local Government, Onay Kasab, to TUSC's annual conference on Sunday February 6 to 'explain the extremely significant decision of [Unite's] recent policy conference to call on “Labour councils to set legal, balanced no cuts needs based budgets” rather than meekly accept the Tories’ austerity agenda', which echoed a policy position of TUSC. [39] [40]
Previously, in February 2015, senior figures from Unite the Union condemned the Socialist Party and by implication TUSC, for standing candidates against Labour in marginal constituencies for the 2015 general election. The open letter addressed to the Socialist Party, which does not mention TUSC, accuses the Socialist Party of having a "derisory" electoral record. [41] In response, the Socialist Party claimed that a Labour government "would be at best austerity-lite and a continuation of the crisis that faces working class people". [42]
TUSC is an umbrella organisation with a federal structure. [43] It has been registered as a political party with the Electoral Commission since 2010. All candidates supporting the coalition must support a core policy platform, but beyond this each candidate is free to campaign on the platform of their own political party. [25]
Each of TUSC's constituent organisations is entitled to have representatives on the All-Britain Steering Committee, where they engage in decision-making regarding policy, strategy, and the selection of candidates. Until 2022, these organisations included, most notably, the RMT, the Socialist Party, the Socialist Party Scotland (Scottish TUSC), and the Resistance Movement. [43]
TUSC participants in Scotland are nationally organised with an autonomous Scottish TUSC Steering Committee. Additionally, local branches of TUSC each have their own steering committees established for local government areas and parliamentary constituencies where TUSC contests seats. [43]
The following organisations have been involved in TUSC at various times:
Under the title "TUSC backs the 'Rochdale insurgency against establishment politicians", published two weeks prior to the landslide victory of George Galloway [50] in the Rochdale by-election of 1 March 2024, TUSC posted a press release announcing: "An insurgency against the capitalist establishment and their tame politicians is brewing in Rochdale, and not just there. It’s obvious which side trade unionists and socialists should be on”. [51]
The press release further added: "The Workers Party of Britain, on whose ticket George Galloway is standing in Rochdale, has participated in the TUSC all-Britain steering committee since they were given observer status at its meetings in March 2022” and emphasised, "TUSC was always conceived from its foundation in 2010 by Bob Crow and others as an inclusive coalition...”
“A broad coalition, rather than a closed one, inevitably has to involve collaboration – and robust debate – between organisations and groups within the working class movement holding often sharply different views.”
Nevertheless, all candidates are expected to support a set of core policies, as decided at TUSC conference prior to the relevant elections.
2024
In January 2024, the core TUSC policies were announced as: [52]
● Oppose all cuts and closures to council services, jobs, pay and conditions.
● Vote for councils to use their reserves and prudential borrowing powers to avoid making cuts in their 2024-2025 budgets and demand from the incoming government additional funding to make up any future shortfall.
● Refuse to co-operate with any commissioners appointed by the Tories to attempt to impose cuts on local services.
● Demand that councils as employers refuse to issue ‘work notices’ against strikers under the new anti-union Minimum Service Levels Act.
● Reject council tax, rent and service charge increases for working-class people to make up for cuts in central funding, support a new redistributive revenue-raising system to finance local council services, and demand central government restores the cuts in funding imposed since 2010.
● Oppose the privatisation of council jobs and services, or the transfer of existing council services to social enterprises or ‘arms-length’ management organisations which are the first steps to their privatisation.
● Use councils’ powers to immediately begin a mass building programme of eco-friendly affordable council homes to tackle the housing crisis.
● Support democratically debated local Climate Emergency plans that create new employment, reduce emissions and improve air quality and the local environment, while protecting the jobs, pay and conditions of all workers.
● Fight for united working-class struggle against racism, sexism and all forms of oppression.
● Back all workers’ struggles against government policies making ordinary people pay for the crisis.
2015
Prior to 2024, TUSC's last major election campaign was in 2015, as it did not stand against Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party. TUSC launched its manifesto for the 2015 general election in London's financial district of Canary Wharf. [53]
Five key pledges in 2015
The 2015 manifesto outlines "five key pledges": [54]
TUSC local election candidates sign up to a platform, [54] which commits them to:
Year | No. of candidates | Total votes | Average votes per candidate | % of vote | Change (% points) | Saved deposits* | No. of MPs | Rank |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2010 | 44 | 15,573 | 354 | 0.1 | 0 | |||
2015 | 126 | 36,327 | 284 | 0.1 | 0 | |||
Did not stand candidates | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
2019 | Did not stand candidates | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
TUSC and the Scottish TUSC (STUSC) announced 44 parliamentary candidates for the 2010 general election, including ten in Scotland. [55] They received a total of 15,573 votes, or 0.1% of the popular vote. TUSC's average vote nationwide was around 371 (1.0%); no deposits were returned. TUSC was registered with the Electoral Commission in January 2010. [56]
TUSC claimed that the possibilities of electoral success should not be exaggerated. TUSC consistently stated that "not too much can be drawn from a handful of electoral contests, either 'writing off' TUSC or exaggerating the possibilities at this stage." [57] Another claimed factor in 2010 was a perceived "squeeze" [58] that generated disappointing results for many smaller parties. "Fear of a Tory government galvanised people to vote Labour, and we were squeezed. People were too afraid to demand something better for fear of getting something worse." Tottenham candidate Jenny Sutton claimed. [59]
TUSC stood 135 prospective parliamentary candidates across England, Wales and Scotland, [11] as well as 619 council candidates in local elections. [12]
The organisation announced in October 2014 that it had received a guarantee of funding from Socialist Alliance. [60] The funds would provide for one hundred deposits in parliamentary contests, as well as a Party Political Broadcast. [61]
The party performed badly at the election, winning 36,327 votes, or 0.1% of the popular vote. No parliamentary seats were gained and no deposits were saved. [62] [63]
TUSC called for a victory for Labour in the 2017 general election and did not run candidates in the elections. [64]
TUSC did not contest the 2019 general elections, stating: "TUSC recalibrated its electoral activity following Jeremy Corbyn’s election as Labour leader, a development which it warmly welcomed." [65]
TUSC stood 174 candidates in the May 2011 council elections. [66] In 13 seats TUSC polled over 10% and in over a quarter polled more than 5%.
TUSC stood a total number of 24 candidates out of two Welsh Assembly regions in the 2011 Welsh Assembly elections in which it came 10th place out of 11 parties in the South Wales West region with 809 votes (0.5%) and for the South Wales Central region, it came 11th place out of 12 parties with 830 votes (0.4%). It gained 1,639 votes in total with 0.2% nationwide.
TUSC stood 132 candidates in 38 councils, with 17 candidates for the London Assembly. Two TUSC-backed candidates were elected, Michael Lavalette in Preston and Peter Smith in Walsall. [67] In the council elections in England and Wales TUSC candidates averaged 6.2% of the poll. Tony Mulhearn, one of the 47 Liverpool Councillors who refused to set a budget for the council, and led a campaign of defiance of the Conservative government in the 1980s stood as the candidate for Mayor of Liverpool, coming fifth with 4.86% of the vote. In Scotland, 38 candidates stood in nine councils as the Scottish Anti-Cuts Coalition (SACC). [68] The TUSC campaign for the London Assembly was launched by Bob Crow of the RMT and Matt Wrack of the FBU, [69] and candidates included Alex Gordon, President of the RMT trade union and April Ashley a member of the UNISON National Executive.
TUSC stood candidates in the 2012 by-elections for Manchester Central (garnering 1.3%), Middlesbrough (1.6%) and Rotherham (1.3%).
A total of 120 candidates contested the English local elections on 2 May under the TUSC umbrella, 5% of the seats. In addition, TUSC stood a candidate in the Doncaster mayoral contest and two candidates in council by-elections that were held on the same day. It was mainly county councils up for election, largely Conservative controlled. The TUSC candidate for the mayor of Doncaster, Mary Jackson, polled 1,916 votes, achieving sixth place, ahead of the Liberal Democrats.
TUSC stood in the Eastleigh by-election. Candidate Daz Procter achieved 0.15% of the vote. Up to mid-November 2013, TUSC had contested 27 council by-elections in 2013 (with candidates in place for ten more). TUSC's average percentage share of the vote in these seats was just under 6%. Joe Robinson won a seat for TUSC on Maltby Town Council.
TUSC announced the 'biggest left-of-Labour electoral challenge in 60 years' in the 2014 local elections, fielding 561 candidates. [70] There were 53 candidates who were members of the RMT transport workers' union, 19 Communication Workers' Union members who were candidates, 18 members of the National Union of Teachers, 16 PCS members, 20 members of the university and College Union. From the big Labour-affiliated unions, there were 74 Unison members standing for TUSC and 130 members of Unite. TUSC gained two seats in Southampton with the defection of Don Thomas from Labour and the re-election of Keith Morrell, also previously Labour, as Councillors Against Cuts, [71] as well as a second seat on Maltby Town Council. The overall popular votes achieved in the campaign exceeded 68,000. [72]
TUSC lost its representation in Maltby in the autumn of 2014 with the removal of their two councillors for non-attendance, [73] and lost its Preston councillor when Michael Lavalette retired his seat. [74] However, TUSC gained two affiliated councillors in the shape of Hull Red Labour, following their expulsion from Labour in 2014. [75] In January 2015, TUSC gained a councillor in Warrington (Fairfield and Howley ward) with the defection of Kevin Bennett from Labour. [76]
TUSC renewed its promise to field the largest left-of-Labour challenge in the parliamentary and local authority elections. It bolstered its 2014 local election candidacy count by 70, bringing the total to 650. As it also fielded 135 PPCs, in every major town and city in England, Wales, and Scotland, TUSC subsequently exceeded the overall number of candidates to satisfy the BBC's fair coverage threshold, qualifying it for distribution of election material via the Royal Mail, as well as time on the major networks for the airing of a Party Election Broadcast. [77]
TUSC gained no seats (and, in one ward, no votes) and lost three anti-cuts councillors in Leicester and Hull. They retain one affiliated councillor each in Warrington, Walsall and Hull, and two in Southampton. [78]
Following the 2016 elections, TUSC had three councillors in Southampton under the banner of Coxford Putting People First, [79] Kevin Bennett having lost his seat in Warrington; [80] Hull Red Labour and Walsall Democratic Labour also lost their remaining seats.
Welsh TUSC candidates obtained 2,040 Regional votes, 0.2% of the votes.[ citation needed]
TUSC stood a total of 78 council candidates in 24 councils across England, Scotland and Wales, contesting 71 wards or divisions. TUSC also stood candidates in two of the eight Mayoral elections held on 4 May.[ citation needed]
Following the 2018 elections, TUSC retained at least one affiliated councillor in Coxford, Southampton, following the re-election (as Independent - Putting People First) of TUSC national steering committee member Keith Morrell. [81] Two other former Putting People First councillors also retain their seats as Independents, but the group has since dissolved. [82] Morrell resigned in 2019. [83]
TUSC claimed to have put up nearly 300 candidates in the 2021 UK local elections. [84]
Dave Nellist stood for TUSC in the 2022 Birmingham Erdington by-election, [85] [86] [87] finished in third place on 2.1% with 360 votes. [88]
Year | Regional Vote | Constituency Vote | Overall Seats | Change | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2011 | 1,639 votes | 0.2% | 0 / 20
|
– | – | 0 / 40
|
0 / 60
|
New Party |
2016 | 2,040 votes | 0.2% | 0 / 20
|
– | – | 0 / 40
|
0 / 60
|
|
2021 | 1,647 votes | 0.2% | 0 / 20
|
– | – | 0 / 40
|
0 / 60
|
Year | Regional Vote | Constituency Vote | Overall Seats | Change | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2016 | – | – | 0 / 56
|
3,540 votes | 0.1% | 0 / 73
|
0 / 129
|
New Party |
2021 | 1,404 votes | 0.1% | 0 / 56
|
959 votes | 0.0% | 0 / 73
|
0 / 129
|
Year | Regional Vote | Constituency Vote | Overall Seats | Change | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2021 | 9,004 votes | 0.3% | 0 / 11
|
8,011 votes | 0.3% | 0 / 14
|
0 / 25
|
New Party |
The motion by Nick Wrack, who was readmitted to Labour after standing against Harman for the left-wing TUSC party four years ago, cites the precedent of Tories warning they would stand a candidate against John Bercow if he stayed on.
The left-wing party Trade Union and Socialist Party (TUSC) is fielding eight would-be councillors for seats on City of York Council, as well as a parliamentary candidate in York Central.
Britain's largest far-left party, the Trade Union Socialist Coalition (TUSC), founded by the late Bob Crow, is standing no candidates this year.
They are members and supporters of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC); a left-wing political group standing candidates across the UK at the general election
David Nellist will contest the election for the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition. He served as Labour MP for Coventry South East between 1983 and 1992.