For the first time in two generations, voters in Felixstowe will have the chance to vote Communist on May 6 in this year's county council elections.

The Communist Party of Britain, which last year celebrated its centenary of fighting for a system that is run for and by workers, has nominated two candidates to contest seats at opposite ends of Suffolk.

This is the first time that the Party has contested elections in Suffolk for over 40 years and reflects the rapid growth in membership of the Communist Party and its youth wing, the Young Communist League, over the last 15 months.

Mark Jones, who works in construction sector and is an active Unite the union member will be contesting the Felixstowe Coastal seat for the Party. Mark is well-known in the town, having lived there for more than 20 years.

Mr Jones explained his reasons for standing: "As with the country as a whole, as with Suffolk, Felixstowe is showing the scars of a society that is becoming increasingly unequal, where working people and young people in particular are exploited and marginalised.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has clearly shown that in Britain, it's working people who make the country run and whose collective approach can be relied on to get us through the toughest of challenges.

"But as we defeat COVID-19, millions will be left without work, working families and children will be in poverty, there will be a dramatic rise in zero hours working and job insecurity, homelessness and bank foreclosures will put pressure on families."

Both candidates are campaigning on a manifesto focussed on massive improvements to community facilities, education, the environment, housing, jobs and transport.

Headlines include:

• Repurposing empty shops and buildings to form suitable education and arts centres
• Returning school academies to the stewardship of Suffolk County Council once again
• Reintroducing the Education Maintenance Grant for students
• Require that green corridors are provided within both existing and all future housing developments
• Stopping the sale of public land to private developers
• Delivering a real living wage of at least £10.40 per hour for all council employees and contractors
• Free public transport for under 25s

Phil Katz, secretary of the eastern district of the Communist Party of Britain said: "this is a small, but significant step forward in giving working people a real chance to vote for candidates who will never be bought by the rich or powerful. Communists will only serve the interests of the working class.

"As Communists, we support a radical programme that will fundamentally change society for the better by taking power away from the billionaires, the big corporations and local landed gentry and return it to the wealth creators – working people.

"This is the first-time for two generations that people in Suffolk will have the chance to vote for their economic and social justice. It will not be the last as we have ambitious plans to contest more and more elections in years to come."

Meanwhile, Darren Turner, a Communist Party town councillor for Out Westgate ward in Bury St Edmunds and a local and much-admired postal worker for three decades, will be fighting to win the Tower ward on Suffolk County Council.

Mr Turner added: "Outsiders assume that Bury St Edmunds is a universally affluent place. Yet I know from first-hand experience that in-work poverty is rapidly increasing, the numbers of our children receiving free school meals is at an all-time high, our public transport system is an unreliable and expensive mess and our precious green spaces are being eaten up by profit-hungry developers in connivance with local councils.

"The Tories, Labour and Liberal Democrats have inflicted austerity on the working class for decades. They're all the same. The Communist Party is the alternative."