Check out this link to a recent survey of teachers. When asked how they would vote if a general election were held now, 30% of those surveyed said Lib Dem!
This is remarkable, as 60% in a previous survey said they voted Labour in the 2017 election. The move towards Lib Dems shows we are getting our education policy right – calling for increased funding and reversing school cuts; increased teachers’ pay and allowing teachers to teach rather than being put under unnecessary pressure from inspections; and supporting SEND pupils with increased provision.
You can read more of the Liberal Democrats plan for education here, Demand Better for our Schools.
* Kirsten Johnson was the PPC for Oxford East in the 2017 General Election. She is a pianist and composer at www.kirstenjohnsonpiano.com.
Follow @LibDemVoice on Twitter
Like us on Facebook
Subscribe to our feed
Sign-up for our daily email digest
Lord Bonkers' Diary: Dominic Sandboy's 'What My Housemaster Told Me About the Seventies'
Weekly Road Report - West End Ward #dundeewestend
Ongoing huge cost of Brexit divorce
The Liberal Song, with Jo Grimond on the B-side
Nonconformistradical
Alex Macfie
David Evans
Helen Dudden
Joseph Bourke
7 Comments
Wow! Thankyou for sharing this Kirsten. Those are remarkable figures. Labour support really tanking there, mainly to our benefit, and a sizeable number of Don’t Knows there for us to appeal to as well. This should be encouraging for every LibDem PPC to reach out confidently to teachers and stress our policies on schools.
In some ways I think this is one of our natural support bases coming back to us after the coalition. We certainly always did well among teachers before 2010. But it is good to see evidence that it is really happening.
I have no idea what the Labour policies on education are. Is there any evidence that the teachers who say they will vote for us actually know what the Liberal Democrat policies on education are and whether they know what Labour education policies are?
OK I have found a partial answer to my question by reading the link. The next question asks about what the sample of teachers would do if there were candidates based on the Independents group. LiDem support drops to 4%, about one fifth of those who would vote for the new party. Of course the number of don’t knows is huge.
There is of course a huge increase in LibDem support at present. My opinion is whether it continues will be decided by things like how well the party reacts to events and whether we are able to talk about issues they see as most important.
Tom – those poll numbers regarding how teachers would vote if there was an Independent Group party are from back in February. They are n’t the September figures.
OK, Davis, I did not notice that. However my point was that there is no evidence that teachers vote according to the policy of a party on education.
Sorry I mistyped, David.
On education I was disturbed to learn that the new PPC for Montgomeryshire has been involved in what has been a very controversial plan to set up a ‘Free School’ in London….. all part of the splintering up of universal state education into separate questionable systems in recent years.