The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition have two candidates in this year’s borough council elections. Mayola Demmenie is standing in Norden whilst Ben McDonnell is standing in Brighton Hill.

Basingstoke Council is facing a £3.21m black hole in government funding this year and has lost £6.5 million of government funding since 2010.

The Tories are planning to make working-class people pay for the crisis by imposing more cuts whilst big companies and the rich have increased their wealth.

It’s vital that mass resistance is urgently mobilised to oppose cuts, demanding full government funding to local councils.

A clear socialist alternative to the Tories’ Covid-accelerated capitalist crisis is needed, which can force an immediate U-turn on Johnson’s weak and divided government.

That’s why the Socialist Party are standing candidates under the banner of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition.

We call on all working-class people to support our campaign and vote TUSC in Norden and Brighton-Hill.

When elected Ben McDonnell and Mayola Demmenie will:

Demand the budget paid for:

  • Reject council tax, rent and service charge increases for working
  • Class people to make up for cuts in central funding, support a redistributive revenue raising system to finance local council services, and demand central government restores the cuts in funding it has imposed.

Use all the legal powers available:

  • To councils to oppose both the cuts and government policies which centrally impose
  • The transfer of public services to private bodies. This includes using councils' powers to refer local NHS decisions, initiate referenda and organise public commissions and consultations in campaigns to defend public services.

Budget based on need including:

  • Mass council housing plan: Rent control for private housing; end housing benefit for landlords and the bedroom tax; and use councils' powers to begin a mass building programme of eco-friendly affordable council homes to tackle the housing crisis.
  • Public Transport in public ownership: Bus services brought back under council control, reinstate rural bus routes and expand the network.
  • Emergency plan and funding for mental health & social care. Campaign to bring Social & Mental Health care under the NHS, and for free education for health and social care workers.
  • £15 an hour minimum wage for all: An end to outsourcing, privatisation and zero hours contracts of council services; job creating plan for youth and unemployed; and raise wages by immediate 15% within the council and campaign for its implementation nationwide.

Fight for united working class struggle against racism and all forms of oppression.

Mayola Demmenie, TUSC candidate in Norden