It’s been an incredible four weeks for me and the team here in Tower Hamlets.
When I got selected for this campaign during the General Election, like many of you I expected to be fighting in the shadow of a hung parliament and coalition negotiations. That all changed at 10.01pm on May 7th when the exit poll came through.
To say it was devastating would be an understatement. We lost amazing colleagues who had worked hard for our values in Government, and a number of my friends missed out in our strategic seats.
And then the #libdemfightback happened, and here in Tower Hamlets it has changed everything in this fight. We were seen as a non-entity in this election, so with none of the local press paying attention we went out and did what Lib Dems do best – started talking to people.
In just four weeks we’ve knocked on over 6,000 doors; had nearly 100 people come and volunteer on evenings and weekends and found that voters on the doorstep are ready to listen to us again.
We have a strong Liberal Democrat message that we’re taking to the streets. Closing our Council newspaper and using the money to create apprenticeships; improving affordable housing in the borough and zero tolerance on the corruption at the Council and it’s arm’s length bodies that have led to people in our borough losing faith that local services are there to support them.
We’ve defied expectations already with this campaign, and we’re preparing for a final push in the last few days which will see us prove on polling day this Thursday that the #libdemfightback is real, alive and winning us back voters.
It has been an honour to lead the fight here in Tower Hamlets, and I hope you can join me in the final two weeks as we do what we do best and punch well above our weight.
Details of how you can get involved are at www.elainebagshawformayor.com. We’d love to hear from you if you think you can help in anyway.
* Elaine Bagshaw is the Honorary President of Liberal Democrat Expand. She serves on the party’s Federal Board and is the Parliamentary Spokesperson for Poplar and Limehouse.



2 Comments
You are fighting a brilliant campaign down there guys.
Hope its reflected in the vote!
http://moderngov.towerhamlets.gov.uk/mgElectionAreaResults.aspx?ID=116&RPID=5937707