2014 is a big year for the Labour Party. The local elections and the European Parliament elections will both happen on 22 May, and the Young Fabians have an important role to play in helping the Labour Party win across the country. Our challenge at the Young Fabians is to get organised and build a culture of campaigning.

On 12 March we launched the Young Fabians' Campaigns Programme.

On 22 March we start our campaign.

Join us as we help Wes Streeting in Ilford North (details of Ilford North below).

Training: at the start of the Campaigning Session we will have a training session, 'Campaigns 101', delivered by Wes Streeting. It will cover the basics of campaigning to ensure that we get off to a good start and are prepared for the doorstep.

Buddying: during our door-knocking session, people will be paired up with an experienced campaigner. There's no better way of learning than being on the door-step supported by a veteren campaigner.

Ilford North is a slice of suburban London, consisting of the northeast side of the borough of Redbridge. Although the Conservatives gained it in 2005, there was a low swing in 2010 and it is highly competitive. The low swing had much to do with rapid demographic change, which has seen some of the more comfortable suburbs in the seat becoming ethnically diverse. Labour won a seat in Clayhall, one of the most affluent wards on the east side of London, for the first time in 2010. However, there are also areas, notably council-built Hainault, where the Labour vote has been weakening – it elected one British National party councillor in 2006 and three Tories in 2010. Winning the seat requires a broad coalition of support.

The candidate: Wes Streeting (@wesstreeting)

Wesley "Wes" Paul William Streeting (born 21 January 1983) is Deputy Leader of the Labour Group in the London Borough of Redbridge and the Labour Party's Parliamentary Candidate for Ilford North for the 2015 General Election.

Previously, his career has been in the voluntary sector, most recently as Head of Education at Stonewall, where he led their 'Education for All' campaign to tackle homophobia in schools. He was previously Chief Executive of the Helena Kennedy Foundation, an educational charity that promotes access to higher education to students from further education colleges through bursaries, mentoring and work placements. He is a former National President of the National Union of Students (NUS) in the United Kingdom.