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Tuesday 29 May 2012

MEMBERS OF RUGBY TRADE UNIONIST AND SOCIALIST COALITION TO BE IN BBC QUESTION TIME AUDIENCE - and gains publicity for it on Page 2 of Rugby Advertiser


Question Time is coming from Rugby this Thursday (May 31). “As soon as they heard, members of the Rugby Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) applied for invites”, spokesperson Pete McLaren informed us.

“As Secretary, I asked for a group ticket for ten Rugby TUSC members

“Individual members of Rugby TUSC separately applied as members of TUSC.  In the event, so far, three members of Rugby TUSC have been successful in their applications and will definitely be in the audience, hoping to ask a question or to be consulted over responses from the Panel.   It is possible the BBC will contact additional members tomorrow, the final day for informing applicants whether they have been successful.

“The three TUSC members appearing on the programme are:

Dave Goodwin  RMT Health & Safety Rep and TUSC candidate in Hillmorton in 2011 and 2012

Ally MacGregor TUSC candidate in New Bilton 2012

Clive Dunkley  TUSC agent and candidate in Brownsover 2011

“As Secretary, I am really proud that members of Rugby TUSC have been invited to be in the Question Time audience – as members of TUSC.  It is a recognition of what we have achieved locally in just fifteen months, further evidence that we have something to offer, that we have a very different message to that of the establishment parties – a message that is increasingly being acknowledged and accepted,” he concluded.

BBC Question Time is broadcast at 22.45 on Thursday

Friday 11 May 2012

CONTINUOUS CAMPAIGNING PAYS OFF: TUSC MAKES ITS PRESENCE FELT IN LOCAL ELECTIONS


MEDIA RELEASE ISSUED MAY 8th: parts of it appeared in a feature on the Local Elections in the Rugby Advertiser 10/05/12

Members of Rugby TUSC, standing as Trade Unionists and Socialists Against Cuts, were pleased with their performance in the Borough Council Elections last week.  “We doubled our vote compared to last year, despite only standing in one additional ward,” spokesperson Pete McLaren informed us.  “This gave us an average of 10% across the eight wards we contested, an increase of 2.8% on last year.  We are steadily being seen as a serious Left party, and this is posing a serious challenge to Labour.  Last week, in the wards we both contested, TUSC gained one vote for every three Labour votes: last year the ratio in Rugby was 1:4, and nationally this year it was 1:9.

“Two direct examples of this can be seen in last week’s results in Rugby.  Labour would almost certainly have won a seat in Eastlands without our presence – their only candidate polled just 70 votes less than the third elected Lib Dem councillor, and TUSC polled 223 votes.  The same happened in Rokeby & Overslade, where our votes almost certainly stopped Labour gaining a second seat.  We are not targeting Labour, but the Party’s move to the right makes it vulnerable to a socialist challenge, and we will continue to mount one.

“The reasons for TUSC’s progress are quite clear.  We fought a very energetic campaign.  In most of our wards every single elector received our main leaflet, many received a second one, and some had an Eve of Poll reminder.  One elector in rural Brandon told me it was the first time in 20 years he had received a local election leaflet from any party!  

“We also talked to hundreds of people, on stalls and on their doorsteps.  The anti cuts message certainly resonates.  More importantly, Rugby TUSC has campaigned on a number of issues in the 14 months of its existence – against youth club and library closures, on behalf of St Cross, against cuts to welfare benefits, supporting the Jarrow March against unemployment, and opposing cuts to bus services.  We do not only appear once a year at election time: we see elections as just one aspect of putting our message across

“TUSC nationally also saw improved results, averaging 6.2% across the 40 Local Authorities its 134 candidates contested – up from last year’s 5.2%.  TUSC endorsed Councillors were elected in Preston and Walsall.  Our Mayoral candidate in Liverpool came 5th out of 12, beating the Tories and UKIP, and finishing less than 4% off 2nd place.  TUSC has continued to make progress locally and nationally – it is becoming a force to be reckoned with,” he concluded.

Wednesday 9 May 2012

Rugby TUSC proud of the publicity it has generated, in particular over the last two months

Rugby TUSC reports that 16 articles or letters have been written promoting it in the local media in the last two months, over half of them during the election period

Saturday 5 May 2012

RUGBY TUSC DOUBLES ITS VOTE: increases its % from 7.2 to 10%


RUGBY TUSC ELECTION RESULTS 2012
Turn out per ward in brackets in Ballot Papers Issued column

WARD
TORY
LAB
LIB DEM
GREEN
INDEP
TUSC
BALOTT PAPERS ISSUED
VOTES CAST *
% TUSC
BENN 
Bert Harris
258
820
180
252

177
1504 (27%)
1691
10.5


255
824
175








256
819



















BILTON
Steve Roberts
1134
643
373


299
2012 (39%)
2473
12.1


1004

397








968




















EASTLANDS Rob Johnson
326
497
567


223
1870 (28%)
1870
11.9


300

810








340

722


















HILLMORTON Dave Goodwin
662
451
207


119
1627 (39%)
1791
6.6


706
534
255








804
427
334


















NEW BILTON Ally MacGregor
406
683

195

141
1442 (26%)
1497
9.4


390
630

241







334
709



















NEWBOLD & BROWNSOVER Bill Smith
415
649

173

145
1340 (26%)
1434
10.1


467
628

155







465
576



















ROKEBY & OVERSLADE Julie Weekes
613
615
491
205

125
2231 (37%)
2062
6.1


612
564
504








557
496
372


















WOLSTON & THE LAWFORDS Pete McLaren
839
894
833
481

361
324
289
1820 (34%)
2402
12.0












TOTALS





1518

15220
10.0


* This column is the sum of the top vote of each party’s candidates in the ward. It’s a simplification. It would be a complex statistical analysis to try to include the facts that there were varying numbers of party candidates and varying numbers of votes cast on each ballot paper.
The TOTAL VOTE of 1518 compares with 758 last year.  Our % has risen from 7.2% of the electorate to 10% in 2012
Geoff Dewhirst/Pete McLaren  05/05/12