IN THIS May’s local elections, communists in the East of England have been out campaigning for policies that put people before profit and which offer hope to those working for local councils and citizens who count on them to keep their communities afloat, amidst economic turmoil. 

Our party has three candidates standing, in St Albans, where probation officer Mark Ewington is contesting Sopwell ward for the third time; health worker Ben Clarke is standing in Nelson Ward in Norwich and commercial engineer Simon Brignell is contesting Abbey Ward — the poorest in Cambridge — as the first party candidate there since 1986.

Candidate Ben Clarke is already into a reprint of his election brochure, and he explains: “We don’t believe change can be won overnight but through determined and focused class struggle. Change is possible and must be worked for and won — the future is not lost, and the present is the realm of action.”