Nominations have just closed for the elections on 5th May. Every part of the UK has at least one election: parliamentary, assembly, mayoral, police commissioner and local.
Can I start by saying a big thank you to everyone who is a Liberal Democrat candidate this year, at every level. Thanks to you tens of millions of people with have an opportunity to vote Liberal Democrat and in many places up and down the country the chance of getting a Lib Dem elected.
We mustn’t forget the teams behind the candidates: volunteer activists, paid organisers, agents, deliverers and ‘foot soldiers’. I know how hard people are working and will be working until 10pm on the 5th May and it is really appreciated.
Ultimately in elections the only thing that matters is the result on 5th May, and the number of Lib Dems we get elected at every level.
The next four weeks will be crucial:
- Please help, however you can, in a target seat or election. Choose a ward, an MSP, AM, Mayor or Commissioner and help them get elected. If you are not actively campaigning on the ground in your area get in touch with ALDC and we can point you in the direction of a team who will welcome your help, in person or on the phone.
- Don’t forget that help is at hand. ALDC is here to give you the ideas, information and inspiration to campaign and win, with an excellent set of election templates ready for you to download. Our colleagues from LDHQ, state and regional parties are working hard on the ground and to give you the resources you need.
Any member of the Liberal Democrats can join ALDC, with new members half price at just £3.42 a month – find out more at www.aldc.org
Nobody is pretending that any election is going to be easy, but our recent good showing in local authority by-elections has shown that hard working teams CAN win. Our candidates need our help to deliver those victories.
* Tim Pickstone is Chief Executive of ALDC (the Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors) and is National Spokesperson on Grassroots Campaigning
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10 Comments
It’s always nice to be thanked for being a candidate – that’s appreciated Tim, so cheers.
Can I just say, I highly recommend an ALDC membership to any prospective candidate; very good value for money and their Focus templates are some of the best.
Looking forward to some decent Lib Dem gains across the country next month.
A recent estimate forecast that the Lib Dems can expect a 16% vote share in May’s elections and that this will mean a net gain of 400 seats. I think these are both wildly optimistic but what do you think ?
Well done Tim!
@Alfred – the research that put us on 16% calculated 50 gains for us, not 400.
Actually Rallings & Thrasher suggested 40 gains (net), 16% is what we got last time these seats were contested. As Mark Pack points out these predictions have tended to overestimate our performance slightly, on the percentages. Predicting seat changes is virtually impossible in any case.
Well said Tim – and thank you to you and all at ALDC for all that you do.
The final four weeks have already started ticking away and all too soon polling day will be upon us. Let’s put every spare hour to good use while we can make a difference. Good luck everyone!
Just received a Focus leaflet for May. Someone was ranting to me about the council tax rise recently and the top story on this leaflet is: “LIB DEMS CONDEMN £300 COUNCIL TAX RISE”.
Jolly good, should get some people into the box who were wavering towards the Conservatives or UKIP. The leaflet is for David Pullin, Kew, Southport.
Of course, the £300 rise is overtime, but still.
re local election prospects.Most seats being contested were last fought in may 2012.At that time national l opinion poll ratings for us were around 15%.They currently stand at at around 7%.It is very difficult to see us defying gravity and notching up gains.In my view we will do well to hold our own in terms of council seat numbers.
Results reported for yesterday’s local byelections: https://www.aldc.org/elections/
Thanks Tim, an encouraging post to read. I’m defending my seat and I’m sure many others are flat out in theirs as well. Good luck everyone, and may you see the fruits of your labours!
The British Election Study has found a “Shift towards swing voters”
The Times 8/4/2016 page 8, column 3, quotes Jon Mellon, research fellow at BES