This morning, Lib Dems should have been out delivering good morning leaflets, ready for the long slog through to 10pm when polls close. Instead, like all Londoners, we are staying home to save lives and the elections for our next Mayor and Assembly have been pushed back by a year.
Nobody knows what the landscape will look like in May 2021, but it’s clear that nothing will be the same. And that includes politics itself. The postponement gives us a chance to re-evaluate the London campaign. One thing is very clear – our capital is resilient and dynamic but it will be significantly different post lockdown. We must be too.
Rory Stewart has announced that he is withdrawing from the race. There’s no hiding from the fact that his presence was challenging. As our members and activists recovered from an exhausting General Election, Stewart’s energy was attractive to voters looking for an alternative.
But let’s also be clear, from drugs reform and tackling the root causes of knife crime to radical green measures like road pricing and introducing a wellbeing budget for City Hall, we had – we have – the most progressive policies. Our task, as we help London to thrive post-Covid19, is to ensure that every voter in the capital knows it.
Here are two ideas to help kickstart our revamp.
First – we must fully embrace technology to engage voters as lockdown eases. A year might seem like a long way away, but we need to start preparing now. If we can’t knock or doors or (oh yes please) can’t deliver leaflets, then more emphasis on canvassing with calls and virtual hustings will surely be a given.
But we must think bolder still. During lockdown technology has been a force for good, connecting and engaging people in all sorts of ways. The country has come together for PE with Joe Wicks, schools and Universities are teaching online and, for the first time, MPs can carry out their parliamentary duties from home. Let’s not go backwards. Let’s keep innovating – I want to hear your creative ideas for how we campaign in the new normal. And I’ve got one for City Hall: look seriously into digital voting with the aim of creating a secure system in time for the Mayoral election next year.
Second – I want young people to help us define a bolder offer. Young Londoners are being hit particularly hard by this pandemic, both psychologically and financially. Whether it’s disruption to their education, the prospect of a deep recession or the sheer mental strain of yet another future-defining crisis to contend with, we must ensure that young people are at the forefront of our thinking on a sustainable recovery.
Politicians often talk about young people, but they rarely talk with them. I want to put that right. Building a better future for my daughters and other young people was the reason I entered politics in the first place. It remains the reason that I will run again next year. So I’m inviting all younger members, whether student or young worker, Young Liberal or just young and liberal – to help redefine this campaign with me. Let’s co-create a manifesto to resonate with all Londoners.
* Siobhan Benita is the Lib Dem candidate for Mayor of London
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14 Comments
The pandemic is affecting everyone. Daft to try and appeal to voters based on their age. I’m 67 – do you want my vote?
Agree with Gary J. There is no particular virtue in being any particular age… age is something that happens to you on the road to the inevitable.
Sorry, but to assume that ‘young people’ should be more important than anybody else is immature politics…..
“….or (oh yes please) can’t deliver leaflets…..”.
Do I take it that Siobhan is NOT looking forward to leafleting ? Heresy !
And I agree with Gary and David. I instinctively recoil from all attempts to try to split the electorate up into this group and that, including by age..
Very frustrating for young people to read comments like the above. Siobhan hasn’t tried to carve the electorate up or solely appeal to young people. She’s invited them to help her redefine her campaign, with their futures in mind. Trying to address their usual exclusion from political decision making, isn’t by definition excluding others. Liberals should understand that.
@Bobby. Well it’s very frustrating to hear that we don’t frame policies that help the young already. Education ? Well that’s definitely about young people. Environment and climate control ? Yes, that’s about young people’s future. Housing ? Well they are going to need somewhere to live and raise families in the future, I assume. And last time I looked we had policies in each of these areas.
And as for encouraging young people, if we get a young member in our local party who looks even vaguely interested in what’s going on we will give them a job offer. So, sorry if you’re frustrated. You’re not alone.
Liberals. ‘Yoof’ can show at all ages. We should all be young in mental age ( can,t all do it physically) thinking of today,s problems ‘ just round the corner ‘ ones and the future . As a party we should work together to identify the young,s problems by identifying them putting forward proposals and asking them if this or that policy fits future needs. As the young are more tech savvie more use of the ZOOM tech should be used to get discussion going. Whilst our message should be still distributed by leaflet we should also embrace future tech. That is what todays young know about.
I can use Zoom……… and I’m older than John Marriott but three weeks younger than that ancient and worthy eminence grise, the Baron Greaves.
@ Bobby Dean “Liberals should understand that”. Well, Bobby, with respect to the young ‘uns, I do understand it, and both you and’the young lady’ in question are wrong.
End of. The weeds are calling in the garden…. will hobble out there.
@David Raw “Sorry, but to assume that ‘young people’ should be more important than anybody else is immature politics…..”
The simple fact is that young people have suffered disproportionately from lockdown. The economy has been trashed, they’ve lost out on education and face a bleak economic future. They are unable to congregate, socialise and play sport.
Why have they had to do this? They’ve done it to protect the most vulnerable – not them, as this article shows – but the retired who are having to make far fewer lifestyle adjustments and are far better off than them.
The retired generation should keep this in mind, not make patronising comments that betray a huge lack of imagination and empathy.
David Raw 7th May ’20 – 3:45pm….. The weeds are calling in the garden…. will hobble out there.
David, the age of innocence..
https://youtu.be/FIIhWD8kWwM
Lockdown must be getting to me
Encouraging young people, who are usually underrepresented in politics, to take part in her campaign is not excluding others, deeming them more important or creating a specialist category of voters. That is all your presupposition.
A quick point on London in general.
My local Roads are already as busy as before “Lockdown” & in a Survey a few days ago half of Londoners said they intended to use their Cars more instead of Public Transport once restrictions are eased.
If we just let things take their own course Lockdown will be replaced by Gridlock.
We need to be thinking about how to persuade Londoners not to use their Cars.
@Paul Barker – yes, good points well raised. Active Travel (like cycling and walking) is part of the answer, but we’ve also got to think about a wider package of measures for those who won’t find those options viable. Siobhan wrote to Sadiq Khan about this last week: https://www.siobhanbenita.com/lib_dems_propose_post_lockdown_transport_safety_measures
From the above I deduce that I am older than Tony Greaves, John Marriott and David Raw. I am also an Agent in the GLA election. (I was a candidate in 2016.)
No I don’t think that we should be dividing people up by age-group and I don’t think that was what Siobhan was saying. But there is a point that young people are under-represented in political discourse. There are reasons for that, including that they are busy with other things and that the messages they, like all of us, get about politics are confusing. Because many of them are suffering more from Covid-19 hopefully more will become politically active.
I am well aware that many people of my age group are not suffering much as from the Covid-19 crisis; our income is stable and with a bit of work, we can get supplies delivered.
“look seriously into digital voting” This is (still) a bad idea
“with the aim of creating a secure system in time for the Mayoral election next year.”
Good luck with that. It’s pretty much impossible.
Here’s why e-voting is such a bad idea: