Greek workers have voted overwhelmingly OXI - that means 'No', to reject the austerity, cuts and working-class misery forced upon them by the Troika of European banking organisations! This is a huge turning point, and a massive victory for the anti-austerity movement in Europe. 

But the hard work is still to come. Greek workers will need all the support we can give them to defeat the capitalists' attempts to make the poor pay for the crisis of the rich.

Last Saturday in Sheffield, over 500 people marched in protest against the Tories and their austerity policies. The demonstration, organised at short notice following a call for a response to the General Election result by Socialist Student members, attracted a fantastic response from the people of Sheffield. Marching from Devonshire Green to Sheffield Town Hall, the protestors chanted “Tories Out!” and "TUC, get off your knees, call a General Strike!", and there was a lively and militant mood throughout. What was particularly noticeable was the number of people who had perhaps not been on a protest before enthusiastically getting involved and bringing a real sense of anger to the demonstration.

‘Bury Austerity’

Speakers from a variety of campaigns and trade unions addressed the rally, including Martin Mayer of Unite, who promised that his union would keep its pledge to break the anti-trade union laws if necessary. Sam Morecroft from TUSC and UCU received a fantastic response from the crowd when he called for nationally co-ordinated strike action to “bury this government and bury its austerity policies”. Protesters also whooped and cheered when it was suggested that we should organise a demo on the opening of Parliament on the 27th May, and make sure it was bigger and better than the one happening in nearby Leeds, where thousands are already planning to attend! Other Speakers included Natalie Bennett, Green Party leader, who put out a call for electoral reform, but had little to say about how austerity could be resisted right now.

Fight Until We Win!

The fantastic response this hastily organised demonstration received shows that the Tories shock election victory has driven people not to despair but to anger. Already the RMT has announced the biggest rail strike in 20 years on the 25th May - we absolutely support them and call on other unions and all those who oppose austerity to do the same. Tens of thousands – perhaps hundreds of thousands – will march against austerity in London on June 20th. We should make that march as big as possible, organising in our workplaces, colleges, universities and communities to make sure people come out to show their anger and determination. The opportunity to build a mass movement against austerity is obvious. Together we CAN topple this nightmare Tory majority government.

Matthew Green

Labour have taken their bat and ball home - expect nothing new from them until September. Meanwhile, the Tories are desperately forcing through their most anti-working-class policies. Now only trade unions and workers stand in the way. Let’s smash them!

Get involved in the movement and join the demonstrations around the region in the coming months and fight until we win.

We will try to keep this list up to date, if you know of any demonstrations happening around Yorkshire, please let us know.

Sheffield: 20/05

Leeds: 27/05

Huddersfield: 27/05

London (National): 20/06

Sheffield

Leeds

Doncaster

It's been an exhausting couple of days - but all of the votes are in and counted! We're proud to announce in the General Election:

Maxine Bowler (Brightside and Hillsborough) - 442 Alan Thornton Munro (Heeley) - 238 Ian Whitehouse (South-East) - 185

Though not headline-busting, these results are a hugely important step forward for TUSC in Sheffield. On the back of our campaign we've talked to thousands of working-class people across the city, delivered more than 200,000 leaflets to homes in every area of the town, and combined with the party election broadcast and the increased media interest we've gotten, almost everyone knows who TUSC is and that we stand with them against cuts, exploitation and misery. It's these conversations and links that we've built over the past months of campaigning that have given TUSC a solid base from which to begin helping working-class communities in Sheffield to fight back against the onslaught on their lives and livelihoods. The results here are a significant part of TUSC's fantastic countrywide total of more than 36,000 votes in the General Election - that's TRIPLE what we got in 2010!

As well, TUSC candidates in Sheffield's council elections amassed 3,052 votes across the city: that's more than 3,000 people who were willing to make a principled vote for a socialist alternative to austerity, knowing full well that we weren't going to win this time round. (full results for your area are on the Sheffield City Council website)

Now, to convert that into 3,000 pairs of boots on the ground willing to lead their communities against this illegitimate Tory government, and their lackeys in Sheffield City Council.

Above all, a gigantic THANK YOU to everyone who voted TUSC this year, and everyone who gave even a small amount of their time or money to helping us campaign and fight. TUSC doesn't disappear between elections like other political parties - you'll be hearing from us VERY soon!

Conservatives: Said they would cut the deficit not the NHS. They cut the NHS not the deficit.

Libdems: Said they would scrap tuition fees, after going into coalition with the Tories tuition fees TRIPLED.

Labour: Say they will scrap zero hour contracts. They've been saying this for 15 YEARS!

UKIP: Say they are the "common sense party" MEPs have spoken in the European parliament about fears that plants will not have enough carbon dioxide if we reduce carbon emissions.

Greens: Say they are anti-austerity but continue to pass along cuts in Brighton and Bristol.

TUSC: Say they will take a worker's wage if elected. TUSC Say they will fight against cuts. They've done it before, they’ll do it again!

The cycling charity CTC are currently running a campaign aimed at local and general election candidates to pledge their support to making Britain safer for cyclists, and TUSC is encouraging all our candidates to sign their support.

TUSC understands the importance of cycling for improving both the environment and our general health, as well as being an affordable method of getting about in a time of skyrocketing public transport.

However with the state of the roads in Sheffield, and across Yorkshire, it is understandable why more people aren’t hitting the streets on their bikes. Most roads are riddled with pot holes, and the few cycle lanes there are outside of the city centre are little more than painted lines down the side of the road offering no protection to cyclists.

This is in part due to PFI profiteers being left in charge of maintaining and ‘improving’ our roads under the “streets ahead” £2bn contract given to Amey by our current Labour council, an unaccountable company more interested in making a profit and sacking workers than making our roads safer.

What Sheffield needs is a huge investment into making our roads more accessible for all road users with dedicated cycle lanes on all major routes in the city and resurfacing work done throughout the city, and to cancel the contract with Amey.

Not only this, but the council should be supporting cyclists in Sheffield with subsidised bike purchases for Sheffield residents.

The extra money needed for this should be demanded from central government as part of a council budget set by the needs of the people of Sheffield.

Avram Benjamin

PAUL SPOONER

HE'S fighting a lone battle as the only Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition candidate standing in any of the region's parliamentary seats.

But Paul Spooner isn't daunted in the slightest.

Campaigning on a relatively shoestring budget, the 63-year- old part-time youth worker from Hull has been enjoying himself.

"It's been absolutely great so far. Even after slogging at it for hours on end, there's always someone you meet who restores your faith in what you're doing. The other night I was just finishing leafleting and feeling absolutely knackered when I bumped into a woman who remembered me from the days when I was managing a band. I told her what I was doing and she said, 'We need people like you as an alternative choice to the other parties.' That gave me a real buzz."

A long-standing community activist in the city, Paul's political roots go back to the 1970s.A former Militant supporter, he's now a member of the Socialist Party and is proud of his left-wing credentials, which mirror the ideals of the coalition he is representing in Hull West and Hessle."TUSC is firmly anti-austerity and anti-cuts," he said. 

"In a place like Hull, it's easy to see how the austerity measures have really hit people hard. Personally, I don't think cities like Hull have ever really recovered from Thatcherism, but what has happened over the last five years, particular with the welfare cuts, is appalling. As an example, I can't think of anything worse than benefit sanctions.”

“What has made it worse here is that our Labour council just seems to have gone along with it all without standing up and fighting back. As a youth worker, I've seen funding being cut for some really great projects, which have sadly had to close. The Rights and Participation Project and the Two-Wheels Centre in Chapman Street are just two examples, which did some great work for many years. Now they're gone. They just seem to have been dropped on the basis of cost rather than need and that saddens me."

He is also standing in the city council elections in Boothferry ward, while fellow TUSC candidate Peter Marsh is contesting Newington ward. TUSC is fielding 100 parliamentary candidates across the country. Each one has pledged to take only the average manufacturing workers' wage in their respective area, should they get elected.