Labour kicks off the Manifesto race

I don’t know about you but elections always seem more real when the manifestos are published. This week we’ll finally get a chance to see the concrete pledges that each of the parties are staking their political futures on.

Labour has been first out of the gate with today’s manifesto launch in Birmingham. Labour had decided to have well known Labour blogger and supporter Ellie Gellard (a.k.a @Bevaniteellie) introduce the event by telling people about the series of short cartoons that had been created to spread the word about Labour’s manifesto.

It’s good to see Labour catering for busy people who want to get a sense of what Labour’s offering without having to read the full 76 page manifesto.

Although we’ve seen party political broadcasts before, Labour launched theirs very recently:

The idea of explaining and sharing policies through videos which people can pass on to their friends and family is actually quite nifty and certainly means the party is serious about making this election all about ‘word of mouth‘.

Still, if people do take a moment to browse the manifesto proper they’ll see a range of policies looking to tackle the big issues that still face our society:

• Banking and Financial Services: A People’s Bank at the Post Office; a Universal Service Obligation on banks to serve every community; a clampdown on interest rates for doorstep and payday loans.
• Cancer care: Legally binding guarantees for patients including the right to cancer test results within one week of referral, and a maximum 18 weeks’ wait for treatment or the offer of going private.
• Parental work life balance: More help for parents to balance work and family life, with a ‘Father’s Month’ of flexible paid leave.
• Democratic reform: Referenda, held on the same day, for moving 41. to the Alternative Vote for elections to the House of Commons and to a democratic and accountable Second Chamber.

Do you remember the first time? Why it’s important to visit, return and know your constituency.

Labour is making this election a “word of mouth” election. Here Claire Spencer /@thedancingflea, Chair of Birmingham’s Fabian Society, tackles the idea that political campaigns start and end with “who are you going to vote for?”

I am an active member of a number of local volunteer groups, and as such, I am always a little bothered when I hear the phrase “we only ever see you at election time.” It suggests that, to that individual and their household, politics is a grasping, intrusive element that only makes itself felt when it wants something – not, as it is (or should be), the thriving relationship between citizen and public servant, the thread that runs through all our lives. Is it really the case that we are only concerned with the wellbeing of this individual when it is time for them to vote?

Of course, when it comes to voter ID (or, as we call it, #labourdoorstep), there is a certain detached practicality to the whole process, necessarily so, but it can (and must) have other value. And in my experience, in good campaigns with dedicated activists, it often does – the listening, the bit where we ask “are there any issues you would like to raise?” can often reveal seams of concern and discontent, issues that need to be resolved, by us. I’ve been on the doorstep with Kerry McCarthy’s team in Bristol East on two occasions, and both times, I was really glad to see how dedicated her team were to following up these issues – recorded, and initial actions (even if it’s just a letter or a second visit) laid out then and there. In Gisela Stuart’s campaign in Birmingham Edgbaston, they have been doing likewise – several people I know in the constituency have remarked on the fact that, if you raise issues with Gisela, you always get a response, a dialogue, solutions.

They recognise, as I like to think I do, that it’s all about that relationship – if it the person on the doorstep feels let down by their public servant and their neighbourhood, then the onus is on you to change that. It’s also about consistency – if someone raises an issue on the doorstep, note it, make sure it gets to the right people, and keep them in the loop. You don’t have to have all the answers – indeed, you may have to come back and give them an answer that they don’t much like. What is important is that you come back, and keep coming back. Hopefully there are numerous examples of this in your constituencies that you have been carried out and/or been inspired by.

However, the manner of your response is as important as the fact you are doing it, and for that, you need to get to know your constituency, its people, and their commonalities and tensions. In the my constituency, the new Birmingham Hall Green,  a number of wards, with very different personalities, cultures and levels of civic-mindedness have been thrown together. Look at the graph below, (produced by Chamberlain Forum, the think tank I am working with), which plots the position of all Birmingham’s Priority Neighbourhoods, the most deprived neighbourhoods in the city. Note NI4, which represents the percentage of people that feel they can influence local decisions. Balsall Heath and Sparkbrook are both part of my constituency, but as you can see, their residents feel very differently about how much influence they have over their neighbourhoods. Add to these the much wealthier areas of Hall Green, Moseley and Kings Heath, all of which score quite highly on both NI4 and NI5, and you get an impression of the diversity of wealth, perception of influence, and general satisfaction with where they live.

I’ve seen this potential for tension in microcosm in one road in the constituency, where a mosque has been established in a terraced, residential street. Its use has expanded greatly in recent years, the street flooded with cars at times of worship and learning, and this is where tension has arisen between the people who use the space for living, and those who use it for worship. Long since abandoned by the local councillors, the relationship has been left to fester, with all parties feeling as though their road is a worse place to be. When we spoke to residents about this on the doorstep, myself and the Labour council candidate decided to act, but in a particular way. This couldn’t be an “us” and “them”, both groups use and value the space, and the solution must be collaborative, not combative. So we’re going to organise a small meeting, with both sides able to express their perceptions, and us present as mediators, to facilitate the flow of practical, inexpensive and mutually agreeable solutions.

I really think we can succeed, and I hope that we do – but even if we fail, we’re not going to slink off, never to be seen again. We’re going back to explain why we failed, to try again, and to maintain the relationship between us (as activists and public servants) and the people we hope to represent.

If you’ve got a campaign story you want to share let us know! Contact Vincenzo Rampulla at vramapulla@youngfabians.org.uk

Not all campaigns are created equally

Continuing our look into the experiences of Young Fabian campaigners on the ground during this election, Manchester-based Sam Bacon looks at what makes a campaign popular and keeps volunteers coming back for more…

Now that we’re all firmly in campaign mode, like other activists across the country over the next few weeks I’ll be trying to determine where to spend my precious hours pounding the pavements.  Whilst the candidates will be equally worthy to campaign for, the experience of campaigning for each will vary massively.  I’d like to share two contrasting approaches that I’ve seen in the over the past few weeks during the pre-election campaign, and hopefully point towards the more successful of the two.

Campaign A.  On an especially cold and windy Saturday, I met a group of other activists from across the region.  We stood outside in the biting wind whilst the organizer grabbed leaflets, clipboards and contact sheets.  No one was asked what experience (if any) they had, and no one was introduced to anyone else, or made aware of who was coordinating/organizing the campaign.  We never had opportunity to speak to the candidate, and certainly received no thanks from them or anyone else.

Contact sheets and clipboards were given to ‘old hands’ already known to the organizer, and they immediately marched off in a seemingly random direction.  The rest of us new activists (literally) ran behind them trying to keep up. We didn’t know where we were going, for how long, what the local issues were or even what exactly we were supposed to be doing.

Unsurprisingly, I have rarely seen a more dispirited group of volunteers.  Gradually over the next two hours more and more people slipped away, cold and dejected and likely never to return.  No one on the campaign ever asked for volunteer names let alone their contact details, and to date, no one ever expressed any thanks or provided follow up as to what difference our contribution made that day.

Campaign B. Volunteers were told to meet at a central venue, where in the confines of a warm, comfortable room, we were fully briefed on what we would be doing, where, for how long and how it impacted on the wider campaign, and thus why it was important. The candidate mingled with the gathered group, and all sorts of food, drinks and snacks were offered.  Finally, a sign-in sheet was passed around asking for our name, phone number and email address.

Before setting off we were divided into teams with a clear leader, and given the opportunity to ask questions.  When we did hit the streets, people were fired up and enthused and they were clear in their role and how to perform it.  No one left before the end of the session.

All volunteers were invited to meet again after finishing to share their experiences and yet more refreshments.  Problems or questions were raised immediately, helping debrief everyone and refine the process for next time.  This social interaction along with subsequent thank you emails helped turn a group of individual volunteers into a genuine campaign team.

Simply put: Campaign B does not struggle to find volunteers each week…

Young Fabian Campaign Day with Mark Rusling and Stella Creasy in Walthamstow

A hardy group of Young Fabian campaigners headed up to Walthamstow this weekend to canvass for Labour local government candidate Mark Rusling and Parliamentary candidate Stella Creasy in Walthamstow and Hoe Street ward.

Mark is a former Young Fabian chair and wrote a great pamphlet on beating the BNP which still acts as a useful campaigning guide for activists today. Thankfully, we didn’t encounter any BNP activity in Walthamstow, but we did see reams and reams of glossy colour-filled Lib Dem campaign literature.

The local Lib Dem parliamentary candidate Farid Ahemd has clearly spent thousands of pounds on printing this literature. But we didn’t see a single Lib Dem canvasser, poster, or supporter.

Speaking to people about their concerns and aspirations for their community is Labour’s way of engaging our supporters, from a day in Walthamstow it seems like the Lib Dem tactic is to bombard voters without really understanding them. One undecided voter I spoke to was so pleased that Labour activists had come round to her house to speak with her that she asked for a membership form on the spot.

The great thing about the day was that all the Young Fabian members who came along had never taken part in canvassing before. So we are brining some new activists into the Labour Party family. Which is a great feeling.

More details about the next Young Fabian campaign day are here: http://www.youngfabians.org.uk/content/blogcategory/21/46/

Pledge Card Launches #labpledge

There’s no substitute for policy thinking and campaigning

As we move closer to election day and the polls begin to tighten one thing is increasingly clear. There is no substitute for good policy thinking. You can spend money on billboards, pollsters, glossy leaflets and even gimmicks, but if you haven’t done the graft and got the ideas and arguments together, you run the risk of the press tearing you apart quicker than voters put the leaflets in the shred pile.

As Labour begins to put the detail on top of the core narrative of securing the recovery, protecting frontline services and building the new industries of the future, we are already starting to see a Tory party run fast out of ideas as well as direction.

For Young Fabians, sometimes unfairly derided as being a little shy to campaign on the ground, this is a time to step in and do some scrutiny of the Tory parties policy and detail. That’s why we’re re launching, Young Fabian Policy News and have included a brand new feature ‘Opposition Policy Watch’ to look at some of the thinking coming from the Tory right and put it to the test.

If you’d like to contribute to future editions of Young Fabian Policy News please get in touch and if you’d like to receive further information from the Young Fabians, you only need to join.

The press are right to say that this election will be a big choice, a big battle of competing ideas and visions. I think Labour has done the thinking and the graft in policy terms, I don’t think that the Tories have and it’s up to all of us to expose that.

But whilst it is true to say that Labour is winning the battle of ideas, we must also win the argument on the doorstep. There is no substitute for hard graft and thinking in the policy sphere, but there is also no substitute for knocking on doors and speaking to voters to communicate those ideas and I know that Young Fabians across the country will be helping Labour campaign on the ground as well as win the battle of ideas.

Healey says Young Fabians ‘Labour’s future’

Our new members’ reception last night followed some work at Labour HQ ringing first time voters ahead of the – now very near – general election.

Guest speaker was Rt Hon John Healey MP, Cabinet minister for housing and planning. After taking his turn trying to sell fundraising raffle tickets, Healey highlighted the Young Fabians’ span of appeal and the ‘fresh energy’ we bring with our ‘combination of organisation and ideology’.

His view that it’s not what Labour has done but ‘why we’ve done it’ that matters is sound. So we’re about more than just managing Britain through global recession: we’re about a focus on people – their lives, their jobs, their homes, and their families. Which is how, despite a deeper recession, we’ve seen half the business failures experienced in the previous recession during the last Tory government.

He ended with a question, perhaps a challenge. It came from a constituent of his in a supermarket in his south Yorkshire seat: “Mr Healey, Mr Healey – what are you doing to keep the Tories out?”

This is about taking responsibility and doing something. We win the trust, respect and support of people by – as Healey said – combining our ideas and our action. Labour can play to the strengths of its leadership here. It’s not polished presentation that is craved but it is principled action that people see missing elsewhere. As one first time voter, a 20-year-old female studying an FE course, told me on the phone tonight, “Get off my telly, Cameron – why as an MP aren’t you doing something for the country?”

Listen to a podcast of John Healey’s speech plus comments from Young Fabian members at tonight’s reception here.

From ‘Twitter Bombard Tuesdays’ to Fabianism for a Fiver this February

Adrian Prandle, Young Fabian Vice Chair, offers some observations on the web as special edition of Anticipations, the Young Fabian magazine, looking at how the internet is changing politics, is offered free online for the first time.

SPONTANEITY AND CREATIVITY – The improv-stand-up Ross Noble, with his comedic-anarchic wonts, last month unfortunately called a day on his ‘Twitter Bombard Tuesdays’. This weekly event had briefly mobilised Noble’s micro-blogging followers to target confectionery companies, Dragon Duncan Bannatyne, and our very own Kerry McCarthy MP, with 140 character business pitches and bizarre questions. It was funny, but beyond Noble – the real spontaneity and creativity was coming from his fans; he was facilitating an opportunity for them to mirror his own unique style. Not too dissimilar from a certain US President who empowered his supporters to tell their personal stories and organise their neighbourhoods in a campaign that literally followed its leader …

WHO’S WATCHING? – Young Fabian member and current President of the NUS, Wes Streeting, writes in an article which argues that online campaigns can make a difference offline, on page 17 of Anticipations, that ‘thousands of people joining a cause on Facebook is nothing new today’ – and he’s right. But I know from a recent meeting during my day job that even much-maligned and oft-criticised quangos are watching out, and working out how they must react to online political or citizen activity such as the Facebook A Level Biology paper protest. Gradually, everyone is starting to notice what’s going on online.

REMEMBERING THE REAL WORLD – I write myself in Anticipations(page 26) on the importance of linking new media and established forms of communication and argue for the continuing relevance of the age-old people-centred campaigning methods we are accustomed to. The web fails politics when it is insular and a stage for the faux wars of the blogosphere. And is at its best when it retains a sense of humanity. MyDavidCameron.com works because it’s simple and because it connects with people. Sure, there’s some duff examples but the best, the funniest, the most poignant mock-ups of the airbrushed poster are all capable of resonating with people’s lives and experiences.

So, what does this mean? Well ultimately, it’s a movement away from the crafting of carefully, constructed messages specifically targeted and towards doing something different, doing something quickly and then creating enough involvement and momentum for it to snowball and make people sit up and take notice. Those that manage to merge the former with the latter, stamping their own personality in the process, during this election will likely find success be it in hits on a website or votes in a ballot box.

Young Fabian magazine, Anticipations, is available online in its entirety for the first time ever. We are offering Fabian members over the age of 31 the chance to sample an edition which includes Sarah Brown, Ben Bradshaw, Kerry McCarthy and Alex Smith. And we are encouraging our supporters under the age of 31 who enjoy the magazine to join the Young Fabians for just £5 to receive every edition of Anticipations, as well as our pamphlets, and to take part in our full range of activities.

Don’t Belize all you read

I met up last night with Kunal Khatri, formerly of the YF Executive Committee, who readers will remember as the excellent organiser and host of our pub quizzes last year. Hard to escape, we discussed the election and the potential impact the outcome could have on our respective day jobs. Amongst other things, we talked a bit about the polls, which have improved in the last couple of weeks in a much more convincing way than the Labour boost towards the end of last year.

I’m pleased with the direction of travel of the national voting intentions. But the point I made to Kunal was that the media are reporting a minimal amount of data from the marginal seats in comparison to these headline figures, coupled with comments about uniform swing and the likely balance of seats in the next parliament. The reality is that Labour can be narrowing the overall gap in intentions but that it could be making little difference to the outcome of the election if those people aren’t living in the right constituencies. My hunch was that were we to see more polling from the key seats, we’d probably find the Tories with a wider gap than the 7/8 per cent that has been accepted right now as roughly the difference nationally. Morale-wise, this close to the election – and given how the parliamentary party in particular has reacted to polls in recent years – it’s perhaps best that we don’t see such polls and stay focused on the task in hand …

However, there are some out there and today I’ve come across an interesting analysis by Anthony Wells for UK Polling Report of Ipsos-MORI’s aggregated data for 2009 (that is, all their polls combined), followed up on by Andrew Sparrow. What we see is the Tories – last year, so not accounting for the recent downturn in their fortunes – having a 5% larger lead (a somewhat formidable 21% lead) in Lab-Con marginals. The swing to the Tories in these seats is greater than the swing in safe Labour seats and quite significantly better than that in safe Tory seats.

In other words, they appear to be winning over voters where it matters. There’s one reason for that: a certain Lord Ashcroft. Which is why it’s so important his personal tax situation is clarified.

The lesson is that we mustn’t get complacent about the direction of travel and about the electoral system working in our favour. And we mustn’t stop the fight.

UPDATE: I forgot to include a link to some recent ICM polling of marginals for the News of the World.

Is film an engine for social change?

The Left has always used the arts as a potent ideological weapon, highlighting and agitating for social change. Film has been critical to that, pointing to the worst injustices in society and reflecting back onto us the reality faced by the most disadvantaged around us.

On Monday we start a series of free monthly film screenings at Birkbeck Student Bar, each film a rallying call for a social issue affecting us in 2010. In true Fabian style we’ll point to a cause still worth fight for.

This month we start with racism and the rise of the BNP by screening Shane Meadow’s sobering This is England: a stunning, brutal look at 1983 Britain, during the conservative Margaret Thatcher regime, the growth of racism and the controversial Falklands War.

Introducing the movie will be Hope Not Hate’s Sam Tarry, also National Chair of Young Labour, on the battle to stop the BNP gaining their first parliamentary seat in Barking.

So bring your firends, bring popcorn and get ready to be affected.

For more details click here or email me: vrampulla@youngfabians.org.uk