Parties standing for election in Sheffield say why you should vote for them on May 7

Parties standing multiple candidates in the Sheffield City Council elections on May 7 have made 300-word statements to say why you should vote for them.

Labour:

On Thursday, May 7, there is a clear choice about the direction of our city.

With new funding and new powers Sheffield Labour is supporting families with the cost of living and investing in our neighbourhoods.

Labour will:

End bus privatisation to bring our buses back under public control, and bring in free bus and tram travel for under 18s.
Deliver more affordable homes – including 1,000 new council homes, and new powers to support renters
Tackle litter and fly-tipping with more CCTV cameras and enforcement officers, hold Amey to account to get potholes fixed and use new powers to ban new vape shops and bookies
Expand the tram network to connect it to more communities.
Rebuild leisure centres at Springs and Concord
Celebrate our city’s diversity and oppose all racism and hate.

Our city is moving forward but we risk going backwards. Reform UK wants to rip our communities apart. Their divisive right-wing politics only brings chaos and cuts.

And the other parties in Sheffield are all talk and have no plan to get anything done. Don’t risk letting Reform in by voting for them.

We love our city and want Sheffield to be the best place for all of us to grow up, get on and grow old. That’s what we fight for every day.

Labour is bringing NHS waiting lists down. Expanding free childcare and free school meals, and delivering the biggest expansion of workers rights in a generation.

We’re backing the home of football campaign, going for UK City of Culture and it was Labour that kept the snooker in Sheffield.

These elections aren’t about Westminster; they’re about our city, our neighbourhoods and our streets.

On Thursday 7 May vote to reject hate and division. Vote for unity and a practical plan to get things done.

– Coun Tom Hunt, leader of Sheffield City Council.

LibDems:

Sheffield is ready for change. The city has so much going for it: proud communities, a rich history, and brilliant people. But when money is tight, residents deserve a council that spends carefully and shows it is working.

The Lib Dems have eight priorities for Sheffield, all rooted in three simple principles: getting the basics right, taking genuine pride in every part of the city, and making sure that opportunity is available to everyone, not just those who happen to live in the right postcode.

A Safe and Proud City Cleaner streets, action plans for every ward to tackle anti-social behaviour, and a city centre you feel safe in.

Getting Sheffield Moving Buses you can count on. Repairs to roads that last, and actions to make roads safer.

Homes You Can Rely On Be a landlord that residents can rely on, bring empty homes back to life, and stronger enforcement of rogue landlords.

Neighbourhoods You Love Pride in Sheffield doesn’t start with big announcements. It starts with whether you street is clean, your park is looked after and your green space isn’t simply handed over to developers.Brownfield development first. Better recycling, and firmer action on fly-tipping.

Healthy Lives and Care You Can Count On Health services that are closer to home, on high streets and in communities.Better public transport options to hospitals and health centres, and one point of contact for care enquiries.

Opportunity For Children and Young People Better SEND support to make sure families are not fighting the system alone, and develop an improved youth offer.

A Thriving Economy With Good Jobs The council should spend more money in Sheffield, with local procurement targets. It should also provide better support to local businesses with faster decisions and simpler processes.

A Council That Is Fit For Purpose We want to give local communities greater power, with more spending power delegated to local areas.

Greens:

Right across the country, the Green Party is more popular than ever before. For the first time in history, opinion polls have placed the Greens as the most popular party.

And recently, our message of hope saw the Green Party win another MP in Gorton and Denton, an area of Manchester that had been taken for granted by the Labour Party for the best part of 100 years.

Zack Polanski, elected leader of the Green Party last year, uses his skills to communicate the joy and hope in politics – and to grab some of the media airtime previously given over to the likes of Nigel Farage.

And here in Sheffield, Green Party campaigners and councillors have steadily been doing the work for 20 years that made this rise possible.

Jillian Creasy was the first Green councillor elected in 2004 and the numbers have grown to a group of 14. It’s often hard, continual and unglamorous work for councillors and our helpers all year round – but it matters.

It matters because it’s about talking to people in communities about what matters to them. It’s about constantly getting litter and rubbish cleaned.

It’s about getting housing repairs done. It’s about making our streets safer and more accessible to everyone.

It’s about making space for nature, even in the city.

It’s about finding the difficult balance between a vibrant, inclusive economy and everyone being able to get enough sleep.

Zack Polanski famously said the Greens are here to replace Labour.

Sheffield used to have a Labour council; now it doesn’t. Being in no overall control means the parties have to work together.

Green councillors care about the areas they represent. More of them means making Sheffield a better place to live.

Reform UK:

Britain is broken.

As someone who loves their country, that is not something I say lightly.

But it is undoubtedly true.

Of all the complaints I’ve heard travelling from town to town over the past 18 months, there is one phrase I hear over and over: Nothing seems to work anymore.

Nowhere is that sentiment felt more strongly than at local council level.

Just look around you: Bins are overflowing, schools are struggling and our roads are pockmarked with potholes.

Meanwhile, our neighbourhoods are over-run with crime.

Yet despite all this, council tax bills continue to go up.

In both Adur District Council and Worthing Borough Council, council tax has increased by roughly 13 per cent in the past five years.

It's not hard to see why.

The CEO of Adur & Worthing Councils earns more than £166,000 a year - almost as much as the Prime Minister - to oversee this mess.

Thanks to Labour’s maladministration, Adur & Worthing Councils have run up a combined debt of £403 million. That costs both councils almost £15 million a year just in interest - the equivalent of £40,758 a day.

But then are you that surprised when Adur and Worthing have spent almost £500,000 and over £747,000 respectively on bureaucratic reorganisation alone?

Violent crime is a real problem, too - there were over 4,500 incidents in Worthing and Adur over the past year.

It really doesn't have to be this way.

Last year, Reform UK won hundreds of council seats and already we’re seeing the positive impact the party is having in those areas.

Which is why I am embarking on a national tour to let voters know how you can fix this country.

Because we can't do this without you. We urgently need your help.

Just remember: Labour, the Conservatives and the Lib Dems tried to stop these local elections happening.

They wanted them cancelled because they know that voters are desperate to give them a kicking.

So now is your chance to do so.

Let’s send Starmer and the rest of the Westminster establishment a clear message.

The turquoise tsunami is coming.

- Nigel Farage

Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition:

Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC), the anti-war, anti-austerity party are standing candidates in nearly every ward in the Sheffield council elections as a left-wing socialist alternative to the Labour/Liberal/Green Council coalition and to the ‘More Tory than the Tories’ Reform.

If elected, our main policies are:

Oppose all cuts in council jobs and services. Oppose 5% council tax rises. Propose a budget to meet the city’s needs and build a campaign to force this weak, divided, unpopular U-turning government to give back funding stolen from Sheffield over the last 15 years.
In order to help people with the Cost of Living – implement a £15/hour minimum wage across the council and contractors. Boost the Household Support Fund to help people with fuel, energy and food price hikes due to Trump’s war.
For a mass eco-friendly council house building programme on Brownfield sites. Cap and freeze rents. Extend landlord licensing.
Oppose the Sheffield Plan to build on green belt land and support local campaigns.
Buses, trams & trains should all be brought into public ownership. Use council powers to bring in Fare Free bus travel.
Reverse privatisation of council services. As a first step, end the Veolia and Amey contracts and bring waste and recycling services and highways (potholes!) back in-house
Demand the government stop arms sales to Israel and deny Trump and the US military use of British bases.

Labour are not Labour any more. Reform are led by millionaires who want to slash welfare, cut workers and tenants’ rights, whilst blaming migrants for everything. And the Greens are not as radical as people think, having joined the establishment on Sheffield council by not voting against cuts and building on green belt land.

Vote TUSC for Jobs, Homes and Services, against austerity, war and division.