"I am standing for TUSC because they are the only party prepared to take on the government and fight the cuts that are ripping the heart out of our society.
TUSC is committed to fighting all the cuts. We would set a no-cuts budget, and build a mass campaign with local trade unions, campaigning organisations and other community groups to force the government to restore our funding. This is a fighting political strategy, not one that can be achieved through tinkering with budgets, reserves or borrowing. Giving political leadership to a mass campaign is the only way we can stop the cuts.Hundreds of billions of pounds were spent bailing out the banks, yet it is the working class who are being made to pay. The cuts fall heaviest on the most vulnerable, but the attack on public services will affect us all. The cuts are not just about saving money, they pave the way for privatisation, threatening health care, welfare and education, and undermining the pay and conditions won by working people.
And by slashing local authority funding, the government is making councils complicit in imposing cuts.
Labour long ago ceased to be a worker’s party. They had the chance to roll back the privatisations and anti-union laws brought in by Thatcher, but preferred to waste billions on war. There is no sign that they’ve changed under Miliband.
The Greens say they’re against the cuts but despite their election slogan “Fair is Worth Fighting For”, it quickly became obvious that the Greens were not actually prepared to fight them in Brighton and Hove. The best they can offer people is a choice between which cuts they mind least.
Our society is suffering because a tiny minority have the power to dominate everyone’s lives. Capitalism will never meet people’s needs because this comes into conflict with the drive to make profit. I believe that we can only meet our common needs through common ownership, public funding, and democratic control."
