Ten weeks since our Central Devon Campaign took off and I'm overwhelmed by the superb welcome and support from local Labour Party members and supporters. In particular I'm indebted to members who have walked miles delivering newsletters in their area, and to supporters who have put my posters up in their windows, or invited me to have a garden stake in front of their home.
Everywhere I've been, across Central Devon, there are Labour-minded people who greet me and are delighted to see a Labour candidate actively campaigning for votes.
There's an myth the Tory Party promotes that rural seats are 'naturally' theirs.
Not so.
Central Devon is a new constituency voting for the first time in the election. No-one knows how the votes will go.
That should never be so in any election. It has to be changed. Labour recognise that need and have pledged to do something about it. Everyone should be able to vote postively for who they do want, not negatively against a Party they don't want. 
Dear Moira,I truely wish for another Labour victory. Here in Devon is it not just a seat for Lib Dems or Conservative? Would my vote be better placed with the Lib Dems to try to stop the Conservatives?
ReplyDeleteDear Anonymous.
ReplyDeleteit is only because we have an antiquated electoral system unfit for the modern age that people feel compelled to vote negatively against a Party rather than positively for whichever local candidate they beleive will do their best for them.
I would like enough people to vote Labour for me to becombe able to work on Central Devon's behalf as the constituency's MP, but I would never say to an individual what they specifically should do.
Interestingly, what many people don't know is that every Labour vote does count in a separate way, because the membership of the South West Regional Council is allocated proportionately to the number of votes cast for each party, when totalled up across the Region.
If Labour voters vote tactically then it reduces the chance of getting Labour representatives onto the South West Regional Council.
I hope this gives you more information.
Best regards,
Moira
I do get very frustrated as a Labour voter here. I know several people locally who would gladly put up posters against the sea of blue ones and the lake of orange ones, but all we get from Labour is one leaflet in the final week or so before polling. It feels to me as if Labour don't think it's worth trying - why didn't you put out an early leaflet offering posters, with a slogan about standing up and being counted? As you say, there are always new voters, but living here and looking around at the publicity, it's too easy to think there is no chance of local victory. It may be too late for this election, but I'd like to see more FIGHT in the South West.
ReplyDeleteMy second (of three)frustrations is tactical voting. I think this time I will stand up and be counted for Labour instead of trying to keep the Tory out. This frustration goes hand in hand with the first, of course.
My third - probably the most important - is that Labour should be shouting from the rooftops the good they have done for families with Family Centres and pre-school provision. It's fantastic, the current 15 hour allowance in Devon, and quite the best thing they have done.
Best of luck.
Hi Sue,
ReplyDeleteI share your sense of our countryside being turned blue. Our Central Devon Labour Party has active members but a very tiny budget - no Ashcroft (or any other millionare) money to pay for a blaze of publicity.
I have a couple of Labour flags - the sort designed to be flown on cars - and everywhere I drive in central Devon I fly the flag for Labour. I get friendly waves and supportive hooter beeps and drivers flashing headlights and cyclists taking both hands off their handlebars to do thumbs-ups.
You are right - there's lots of Labour people in Central Devon.
If this election was done by PR not first-past-the-post the Tories would be toast. They know it and oppose PR saying it leads to weak Govt.
We fight on.
Thank you for your support and for saying so on this blog. It means so much.
Moira
Dear Moira, I hope your debate went well in Moretonhampstead last night? Unfortunately I was unable to get a baby sitter so couldn't come along. I do display a labour poster at the end of my drive, I think the only one in the area? It has been ripped down on several occasions. I have had problems in getting a poster. If this one goes then I will make my own! I agree with Sue and will vote for you as a positive action. Nic.
ReplyDeleteHi Nic and thanks, last night's Moretonhampstead event was the liveliest of all 10 hustings we've had. I am sorry you couldn’t have been there.
ReplyDeleteI've had feedback from Labour Party members and members of the audience who were there and who felt Labour’s points came across clearly.
This was, in quite a large way, from a superb questioner who raised the issue of how the Tory policies would hit Sure Start Children’s centres. She knew her facts all right. Four centres in Central Devon constituency would go. The Tory candidate had no adequate answer to give her.
Then he tried to promote the Tory idea of parents getting together and starting up schools of their own anywhere they wanted. He got shot down in flames again.
What a night!
I’m sorry your poster keeps getting attacked. It’s not as if we have a huge number up anyway. Today I was in Exbourne, right up past Okehampton, where a vigorous group of local women have saved their village post-office and shop. A life-long Labour voter took one of my window posters and will put it up in his window. And he wasn’t the only supporter who I met.
We are everywhere. Roll on a change in the electoral system.
All the best,
Moira