As voting quickly approaches for the London regional executive, I fell that there has been very little time to scrutinise the candidates and quiz them on key issues that affect London Liberal Democrats. So, I have complied a short list of questions for candidates to answer (preferably in the comments).
- Which seats to target?
What criteria should a seat or council have to pass in order to make them a target seat? Should this just be restricted to the seats we have held previously? Should seats have to meet certain targets to remain on the target list?
- Diversity?
Diversity within the London Lib Dems has improved, but it is nowhere near as extensive as it needs to be. What would your plans be to improve diversity across the capital?
- Revitalising “black holes”?
Here in Tower Hamlets, we played a key role in revitalising the local parties both Newham and Barking & Dagenham. There are other local parties that can grow and thrive (see Boleyn by-election, 2015), if given the right resources. What would you do to help these local parties to gain councils, and seats, in 2018?
- Using digital technology?
In London, we have the privilege of having access to a lot of tech savvy people. What would you do to help local parties and campaigners develop their digital campaigns? Should local parties be forced to use Nationbuilder? Should local parties have targets for the number of email contacts they hold?
- The last assembly elections?
In City and East, we were the only assembly constituency to raise its vote share on every ballot paper. The fall in our overall vote share led to us losing an assembly member. What went wrong with last year’s assembly elections? Where did we go wrong in the 2016 London elections? And what should we do differently in 2020?
- The English party?
Would you support the prospect of London becoming a state party and coming out of the English party?
Again, if candidates can put their answers in the comments below and best of luck to all.
Ballot papers are being sent out today (Friday 12th Jan) via email to all members in London. If you have not received your ballot paper by the end of the week, email [email protected]. More information can be found on Facebook in the London Virtual HQ.
* Will Dyer is the PPC for Bethnal & Bow and a former London regional executive member
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6 Comments
Are these the kinds of questions – even more- are the answers you want, the kind of answers that should be on an open site? Personally, and as a Lib Dem member who has been involved in such matters, I don’t think so.
London member here. Never heard of these elections. Are they OMOV?
Yes they are OMOV.
The reason for putting it on LDV is that it is easy for members to find.
Please click on the “Website” link above to take you to a Google Document with my full answers.
**Which seats to target?
Some local parties have already conducted the analysis. Such as which wards got better GLA or Remain results and where the greatest concentrations of members are. In some cases, potential candidates are already working them. This isn’t the case everywhere, but these individuals who are determined to win have a head start.
It makes sense to rank campaign activity by wards – door knocking, literature delivery, helper recruitment etc, and then to circulate tables among London parties to encourage competition.
We should provide advisory progress KPIs and a campaign model with suggested targets. We should approach this with an open mind, but be realistic. We need to take into account infrastructure on the ground – it always helps where we’ve had a history of success. Where we have self-starters campaigning in areas that show good potential, we should compare results with traditionally good areas.
London Region can use this data to make better-informed decisions on how best to target its resources and provide encouragement for where people should concentrate their campaigning efforts.
**Diversity?
The objective should be to get competent people elected from a range of backgrounds – from which benefits are derived from a greater representation of the electorate delivering decisions.
The LGA are running a series of “Want To Be A Councillor” events – while we should encourage anybody who is interested to attend, for target wards we should make an effort to meet with our members, take into account the demographics of the ward and encourage people to stand particularly where we know we’ve got a diversity challenge.
**Revitalising “black holes”?
In areas where we know there is good potential and don’t want to draw away too many experienced campaigners, we should encourage “training action days” aimed at newer members or activists in the same way we do for by-elections.
We should monitor the impact it makes and should the data not be delivering good enough results, these newly trained activists can be re-deployed to other target areas.
Should areas continue to demonstrate evidence of good potential, on production of a campaign plan, costings and agreed targets, they should be able to apply for fund. It’s important we don’t overstretch ourselves – our aim is to deliver more wins.
I would like to say that in the London Executive only 5/19 people who are standing identify themselves as women. Lib Dems want to be more diverse so why not have more Mums on the Executive. I’m a Mum, work full time for a well known Mental Health Charity. Have worked in this field, NHS, Social Care & Housing for over 20 years in London. I also have a special needs child! Regularly attend Disability Benefit Tribunals, homeless & child protection meetings for Londoners. I also stood as a Lib Dem Candidate in London at a borough By Election.
Just to say my response to Will’s excellent questions are on the London Lib Dems Virtual HQ Facebook page…