Working-class people disillusioned by Labour should consider TUSC
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Version 0 of 1. Your article (10 things Guardian readers think should be in the Labour manifesto, theguardian.com, 10 April) highlights precisely why so many former Labour voters, and workers who should in theory be their natural supporters, increasingly feel disillusioned with the party. It’s obvious that renationalising the railways is a logical policy given the experience of the east coast mainline, yet Labour continues to stand alongside the Tories and Lib Dems in defending the profiteering of the private sector in our public transport. On the same day as publishing this article, you choose to ignore the manifesto launch of a party that supports all 10 points you outline, namely the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC), which is standing the sixth most candidates in this election. Our candidates in Leeds are a prime example of those people who Labour are losing – one of our candidates in Horsforth even stood for Labour in that ward three years ago but was disillusioned by the experience. Our other candidates include people victimised by the bedroom tax whom the Labour-run council chose to ignore when they lobbied them. Our parliamentary candidate in Leeds West is on a zero-hours contract, and many of our council candidates, including myself, used to be on them. Between us we epitomise the working-class people that Labour have left behind in their drive to jump into bed with big business. That should be a story worth covering.Iain DaltonTUSC candidate in Headingley ward, Leeds • Presumably Labour’s manifesto title, Britain Can Be Better, was inspired by the title of the 1979 party manifesto, The Labour Way Is the Better Way. Let’s hope that the election result will also be better.John EvansMacclesfield, Cheshire |