Nominations have closed for the local elections taking place on 7 May. And the sixth-biggest bloc of candidates – behind Labour, the Tories, Reform, the Lib Dems and the Greens – consists of those using one of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) descriptions on their ballot paper.

TUSC has been in touch with details of its preparations for the elections:

There are 136 local authorities with scheduled contests this May. Councillors are up for election in around 3,000 wards or county council divisions. In total there are 289 candidates using a TUSC-registered description in the local elections across 64 councils.

They’re standing in one-in-five of the wards in those councils and just under one-in ten overall. And this includes candidates for the directly-elected mayors of Croydon, Lewisham and Tower Hamlets.

At the same time, there will be six constituency candidates using a TUSC description in the Scottish parliament elections, agreed by the autonomous Scottish Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition.

And two constituencies in the Welsh senedd elections (out of 16) will see five candidates using a TUSC description. Each constituency sends six members to the senedd on a proportional system.

TUSC candidates

The full list is available here, with the English council candidates presented in a regional breakdown.

Most of the candidates appear on the ballot paper with the description Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition next to their name. But some are using the Independent Trade Union and Socialist Candidate or Socialist and Trade Union Candidate descriptors.

Whatever the description, however, every candidate is committed to stand up to the establishment parties, who have all shown themselves to be indistinguishable when it comes to representing the interests of working class people.

The TUSC core policy platform for the May council elections features the minimum ‘six guarantees’. Local election candidates must commit to these before they can use one of the TUSC descriptions.

For those with a TUSC candidate in their area the opportunity is there not just to protest on 7 May but to vote positively for socialist change.

There are other candidates contesting the establishment parties on 7 May who, while not appearing on the ballot paper with a trade unionist and socialist description, will have support from the coalition.

These include the 20 candidates standing under the Your Party name and others appearing on the ballot paper as ‘Independent’ who could be properly described as anti-cuts and anti-war candidates. TUSC is currently collating information on these and will publish as comprehensive a list as possible of alternative candidates before polling day.

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