COMMUNISTS are set to fight two impending by-elections for Edinburgh City Council on a platform of peace, public ownership, tax justice and workers’ rights.

The Communist Party of Britain will stand candidates in both the Southside/Newington and Portobello/Craigmillar wards.

A party spokesperson said: “Our candidates are standing to address the city’s growing housing crisis, its underfunded public services, and the rising cost of living.

“We are offering voters a distinct socialist alternative to the mainstream political parties.”

Key campaigning priorities in respect of housing include immediate rent freezes, a cap on short-term holiday lets, and an expansion of high-quality, municipal council housing.

The party is pledging to reverse budget cuts to local services such as libraries, community centres, road maintenance and youth services by demanding a fairer funding model from national government and taxing the wealthiest in the city.

It is also advocating an end to funding genocide in Palestine and endless foreign wars and instead spending that money for the benefit of working-class people.

Peter Olech, Communist candidate for Portobello/Craigmillar, ward, said: “Edinburgh is a city of vast wealth, yet working-class communities are being priced out of their own homes and left with crumbling public services.

“We are standing in this election to give a voice to working-class people and to fight for a city managed in the interests of the many, not the wealthy elite.”

Richard Shillcock, fighting the Southside/Newington ward, said: “Edinburgh Council should have greater responsibility for local economic development, with increased investment in council housing and public services.”