The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition have two candidates in this year’s borough council elections. Mayola Demmenie is standing in Norden whilst Ben McDonnell is standing in Brighton Hill. Basingstoke Council is facing a £3.21m black hole in government funding this year and has lost £6.5 million of government funding since 2010. The Tories are planning to make working-class people pay for the crisis by imposing more cuts whilst big companies and the rich have increased their wealth. It’s vital that mass resistance is urgently mobilised to oppose cuts, demanding full government funding to local councils. A clear socialist alternative to the Tories’ Covid-accelerated capitalist crisis is needed, which can force an immediate U-turn on Johnson’s weak and divided government.