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Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition | |
|---|---|
 TUSC logo | |
| Abbreviation | TUSC |
| Leader | Dave Nellist[1] |
| Founded | 2010; 15 years ago (2010) |
| Headquarters | 17 Colebert House Colbert Avenue London E1 4JP[2] |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Left-wing[4][5] tofar-left[6] |
| Colours | Pink, brown and red |
| Members | |
| Councillors | 1 / 18,740 [7] |
| Election symbol | |
 | |
| Website | |
| www | |
TheTrade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) is asocialistelectoral alliance in Britain. It was originally launched for the2010 general election.[8][9][10]
TUSC's co-founder was theRMT union general secretaryBob Crow. Members of thePCS,Unison,NEU,UCU,Napo andPOA unions are on the steering committee. The biggest component section of TUSC was the RMT[11] until they disaffiliated at the 2022 RMT AGM.[12] The most prominent participating political groups are theSocialist Party and the Resistance Movement.[11] TUSC stood 135 (parliamentary) candidates across England, Wales and Scotland at the2015 general election[13] and 619 the same day inlocal government elections.[14]
The TUSC ceased standing candidates following the election ofJeremy Corbyn asleader of theLabour Party and endorsed his leadership, suspending electoral activity in November 2018.[15][16] Following Corbyn's resignation and succession byKeir Starmer in 2020, the Socialist Party called for the relaunch of the alliance;[17] the TUSC steering committee agreed to resume standing candidates in the2021 UK local elections.[11] It stood further candidates in the2022 UK local elections,[18] and 40 candidates at the2024 United Kingdom general election.[19]
Within two weeks of its announcement, the coalition declared its "full backing" for Corbyn andZarah Sultana'sYour Party initiative.[20]
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 theEuropean elections in June. At a later congress session this initiative was formally agreed by congress delegates, andNo to EU – Yes to Democracy (NO2EU) was formed.[21] NO2EU, an electoral alliance, headed by Bob Crow, between the RMT, theCommunist 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 theSocialist Alliance andWelsh Socialist Alliance and backed theCampaign for a New Workers' Party, termed No2EU "an important first step towards independentworking class political representation", despite criticisms of the name and other minor issues.[22] The Socialist Party stated it "would prefer a name that includes 'socialism', for marked ideological contrast toNew Labour, and also one that makes it clear that the coalition is a working class alternative."[22] Nevertheless, the Socialist Party noted the success ofDie Linke in Germany, theNew Anticapitalist Party in France andCoalition of the Radical Left in Greece, and emphasized the need for a "genuine socialist alternative" in the European elections.[23][24][25]
After the European elections, in July 2009, the CPB released a statement[26] 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.[27]
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".[28] The RMT, which had formally supported No2EU, initially decided, in January 2010, not to similarly back TUSC, but allowed individual branches to support it.[29] It later gave TUSC candidates its full backing (see below). On 12 January 2010, the coalition was announced[30] and subsequently, the RMT National Council of Executives supported 20 TUSC candidates on receipt of local RMT branch requests.[31] TUSC chairpersonDave Nellist stood as a candidate for the coalition in the constituency ofCoventry North East. Among the other candidates were Jackie Grunsell inColne Valley constituency, Keith Gibson inHull West and Hessle,Dave Hill inBrighton Kemptown, Ian Page inLewisham Deptford, Rob Williams inSwansea West and Tim Cutter inSouthampton Itchen.
Some political groups such as theAlliance for Workers' Liberty and theWeekly Worker newspaper have argued that the coalition was formed in secret and without democratic input.[32]
Meanwhile, just after the 2009 European Elections, theSocialist Workers Party, which had not taken part in No2EU but which had itself been part of the Socialist Alliance and theRespect Party, published its "Open Letter to the Left",[33] 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,[34] before leaving entirely.[35]
In July 2020, the Socialist Party called for the relaunch of the electoral alliance[17] and in September the TUSC steering committee agreed to resume standing candidates in the2021 UK local elections.[11]
On 20 January 2022, it was announced that a "memorandum of understanding" had been agreed between TUSC, theBreakthrough Party, theNorthern Independence Party andLeft 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.[36] It did not last long, however, as TUSC was removed from PAL after its Steering Committee agreed "observer status" for theWorkers Party of Britain, led by former Labour Party and Respect Party MPGeorge Galloway.[37] 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.[38]
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.[39][40] 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". Ultimately, the TUSC did not join 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 afterJeremy 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 2 September, 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.'[41]
After the relaunch of TUSC, the 11 November 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.[42]
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.[43][44]
Previously, in February 2015, senior figures fromUnite 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.[45] 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".[46]
TUSC is anumbrella organisation with afederal structure.[47] It has been registered as a political party with theElectoral 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.[29]
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, theSocialist Party, theSocialist Party Scotland (Scottish TUSC), and the Resistance Movement.[47]
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.[47]
The following organisations have been involved in TUSC at various times:
TUSC has contested elections to the House of Commons (2010 and2015),Holyrood (2016 and2021), theSenedd (2011,2016 and2021) andlocal government. In the 2014 elections for the European parliament TUSC supported theNo2EU coalition.
During theLabour leadership ofJeremy Corbyn (2015–2020), TUSC opted for a selective electoral strategy, not standing against pro-Corbyn Labour candidates in local elections and endorsing Labour in the general elections in2017 and2019. After the defeat of Labour in the 2019 election and the replacement of Corbyn as leader byKeir Starmer in April 2020, TUSC has decided to lift its suspension of electoral activity.[54]
| Year | Candidates | Total votes | Mean votes per candidate | Of total (%) | Difference (pp) | Saved deposits* | MPs | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 44 | 15,573 | 354 | 0.1 |  | 0 | 0 | 20 |
| 2015 | 126 | 36,327 | 284 | 0.1 | | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| 2017 | EndorsedLabour | — | ||||||
| 2019 | EndorsedLabour | |||||||
| 2024 | 40 | 12,562 | 314 | 0.04 | Did not stand in 2019 | 0 | 0 | 20 |
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.
Wrexham councillor Anthony Wedlake, confirmed his resignation on Sunday and says he will instead sit as a councillor of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC).
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
