Local elections in Leicester – results for TUSC

Vote Against Cuts in Leicester local election results:

TUSC – Trade Unionists and Socialists Against Cuts
UPS – Unity for Peace and Socialism

Braunstone Park & Rowley Fields
Fiona NEVILLE TUSC 181 5.3%
Debbie STOKES TUSC 146 4.3%
Stephen SCORE TUSC 113 3.3%

Castle
Alex MOORE TUSC 232 5.6%

Coleman
Avtar SINGH UPS 229 4.9%
Ashvin VYAS UPS 122 2.6%

Evington
Mohinder FARMA UPS 205 4.8%
Haridev DASANJH UPS 142 3.3%

Knighton
Paul O’CONNELL TUSC 156 2.3%

Rushy Mead
Suraj SHAH TUSC 272 4.9%

Stoneygate
Becci HEAGNEY TUSC 190 2.7%
Drew WALTON TUSC 176 2.5%

Westcotes
Dean KAVANAGH TUSC 71 3.5%

Thanks to all those who supported TUSC, but we still face Labour cuts to hospitals, schools and libraries. The overwhelming vote for Labour indicates that the people of Leicester are not prepared to put up with Con-Dem cuts. However, we can’t rely on Labour to defend jobs and services. As part of TUSC, the Socialist Party will continue to campaign against ALL cuts to services. Unlike the main parties, we are not just there at election time, but campaign all year round.

Come to our public meeting: Turkey Cafe (Granby St), Tuesday 10th May, 7.30pm – How can we defeat cuts in Leicester?

Vicious cuts to public services are NOT necessary. The money is there in society, but we need a mass party which stands up for ordinary people, not big business and fat cat bankers. Come and hear about the socialist alternative to cuts and closures.

TUSC will continue to fight back and help build a massive opposition to cutbacks. We are campaigning for a no cuts budget based on the needs of people in Leicester. It can be done! Liverpool city council fought back in the 1980’s and won £60 million back from Margaret Thatcher’s government.

To stop the cuts, we need people to get involved . . .

If you would like more information about our campaigns or to join our party, contact Steve on 0773798057 or email: stephen.score@ntlword.com

Follow us on facebook – Vote Against Cuts in Leicester

Police bias against anti-EDL protestors

A highly critical report has been published by the Network for Police Monitoring. It covers the build up to the EDL coming to Leicester on the 9th October 2010 and the demonstration itself.

The report finds that the police had a deliberate strategy of intimidating people from entering the city, putting on distraction events and using the Childrens Act against young people. This is in contravention of the right to peaceful and democratic assembly in the European Convention of Human Rights, and was discriminatory against an ethnic group. But after all, who polices the police?

This is an excellent report and well worth a read. However, there is one slight error. It states that a contingent of the UAF demo arrived in Highfields to support the local, largely Asian, population against the EDL. The contingent was made up of Socialist Party members and non-affiliated anti-fascists, not the UAF, who remained in their protest in the city centre. A more accurate account of the day was published in the Socialist newspaper. It concludes, “Above all, we need to build a political alternative to cut across the dangers of division and racism. A movement that fights for jobs and services, a working class political alternative, is required.” This is one reason why we are standing as trade unionists and socialists against cuts (TUSC) candidates in opposition to the main parties in Leicester’s local elections.

I also wrote a poem to celebrate the defiance of Highfields residents on the day.

Also shameful (mentioned in footnote 14 in the report) was the role of Hope Not Hate (HnH), who actually helped the police and council carry out their dirty work for them, by persuading people to stay away and building instead for a festival of multiculturalism the following day.

Between them, the police, the council and HnH handed a small victory to the EDL thugs who rampaged round Leicester on the 9th October.

The whole of Leicester needs to be waiting for them if they ever come back.

Vote TUSC, not CUTS – no to sleaze and privatisation

It has largely been ignored by the mainstream media, but there is a new party standing in the elections – TUSC (The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition).

Its supporters are fed up with New Labour, but have no illusions in the Tories or the Lib Dems. All main parties have made it clear that they will slash our public services and carry on with the same privatising and cuts programme carried out by the government.

The TUSC coalition stands for working-class and socialist values – defending our public services and our NHS, to end the bloody wars in the Middle East and against sleaze and corruption. All its candidates have pledged, if elected, only to take the average wage of a worker in their constituency. We need to campaign now so that when the cuts do come – at the hands of whichever party wins on May 6th – we have a strong voice to defend our jobs and services.

TUSC is standing in 42 seats in this election, but hopefully this will be just the start of something much bigger. I think we need a new mass party for ordinary people, rather than the three main parties who are all funded by and do the bidding of big business. We need to get trade unions to stop giving money to New Labour and to begin funding a new party which will work in the interests of their members. Leading members of unaffiliated unions – the PCS, RMT and FBU are taking part in the coalition.

If you can, vote TUSC on May 6th to send a message to the main parties that we are not prepared to stand back while our welfare state, NHS, libraries and care services are sold off for profit or disappear altogether.