Local elections – Labour on the up

Once again, the electors of Maybury and Sheerwater were cheated from getting their choice of Councillor by continuing wholesale abuse of the postal voting system. The Electoral Registration Officer upped his act in key areas this year but has not responded to our proposal for all postal votes in this ward to be cancelled and to be re-applied for under very tight constraints. We have identified already a significant number of votes which were fraudulently cast and are now considering what further action to take. We fell short by 16 votes!!

Our thanks in particular go to Mohammad Ali, Paul Brown and Tom Crisp for their active candidacies and to Liz Evans for being the election agent. We fought a more active local election campaign than we have for several years. We are however disappointed that, against a very positive national picture where Labour performed exceptionally well, we did not see any Labour Councillors elected in Woking.

Candidates Mohammad Ali and Paul Brown with the Rt Hon Sadiq Khan MP (centre)

Our strategy for re-establishing our presence in Woking is nevertheless beginning to show results. Some of the positive indicators are:

• Compared with 2008, when the same seats were last contested:
  • the Labour share of the vote tripled
  • the LibDem share fell by 22%
  • the LibDem vote fell in every ward
  • the Labour vote rose in all but one ward
• The LibDems peaked in 2008 and their performance is trending downwards
• Our performance bottomed in 2008 and has since been consistently upwards
• We contested all seats
• Our membership is growing and we have more active members
• This is all supported by a good quality printing operation and an improving communications strategy

We are confident about the future and look to all our members to take a more active role – however they feel they can – in promoting our principles and policies in Woking.
Paul Blagbrough, Chairman

On the Surrey campaign trail with John Denham

Following a great win for Labour in his Southampton seat on May 3rd the Rt Hon John Denham MP (seated left below) came back on May 10th to London University’s Holloway College in Egham where Labour’s fightback in the South East was launched in the 1990s. Sylvia Heal, former Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons, chaired the meeting.

John spoke to students from the political and economics department and Labour Party councillors and activists from Surrey and a lively Q&A session followed afterwards. John is now PPS to Ed Miliband but was Business Secretary and Higher Education Minister in the previous government and is therefore highly competent to speak on both topics.

He said Ed Miliband is leading on "responsible capitalism", and that the government should be working alongside the private sector for it to be successful. The two go hand in hand but this is not happening as the state sector gets increasingly cut back. He is also right about the ‘squeezed middle’, who are receptive to ways in which to support them, and that we should use both of these in local campaigns.

The LibDems will be seen locally as the opposition to the Tories wherever Labour has ‘vacated the space’ and our fightback must be to be seen again as ‘relevant’. People may not be seeing us as the vehicle for them, due in part historically to Labour’s weak labour movement in the South. We should be seen as the representative of people whose bills are 20% higher than in the North. And so we must relate the story to our own area. What issues are relevant here? Find specific cases – local deficiencies – and show them up. But relate them to the national picture too. Go from the local to the national not the other way round. We have to make people see that we can make a difference, and empower them to support us.

Values in the South are actually no different from elsewhere and there are three reasons why voters will want to vote for us, if we can:

• Show that our values are their values – we are like them and are defending their values;
• Show how much the problems in this part of Surrey concern us and discuss them on the doorstep not only at election times;
• Show that Labour is alive in their area, has a presence and a visible profile (leaflets, street stalls, local campaigns and letters/articles in the press).

And so the action plan should be to continue to soften the LibDem vote by exposing their national shortcomings; avoid the trap of promising more than we can deliver; use social media around local issues to reach young people and support young candidates in engaging with it, and finally, to have local campaigns and sign people up to them.
Liz Evans

Dates for your diary

All at Owen House unless otherwise shown

May 21st (Monday), 8pm   Reading Group in the bar. You can download a copy of the Partnership into Power policy document to be discussed on May 23rd here.

May 23rd (Wednesday), 7.30pm   Open Forum with Simon Burgess, NPF, leading on "Sustainable Communities". All Surrey members and supporters are welcome to help develop Labour policy on this important area. Submissions will be sent from the meeting to the National Policy Forum for consideration by the NEC for the next general election manifesto.

June 13th (Wednesday), 8pm   Executive Committee

June 30th (Saturday)   A Celebration of Labour’s Local Government in Surrey with our elected councillors will start with a buffet at 12.00pm and a (short) AGM for the Surrey County Labour Party. Councillors will explain local issues and progress made. This will be followed at 2.45 by ‘Labour’s links with the Unions’ led by trade union officials and ‘Building further links with the Co-operative Party’ – led by Lynda MacDermott. Finish 3.30pm. All welcome.

July 11th (Wednesday), 8pm   Executive Committee

There will be no meetings in August.

JOIN THE 100 CLUB TODAY!!!

The Woking Labour 100 Club began in September 1994 and ten of the original members are still with us. For £12 per year your lucky number will be in the Draw held each month at Executive Committee meetings. The prizes are the best known return on your money ANYWHERE and there are first, second and third numbers drawn EACH MONTH too! The aim of the Club is to raise funds to fight our campaigns and of course to give pleasure to the lucky winners. ALL YOU NEED TO DO is to send a cheque for £12 with your name and address to Alison Millard, Claughton, Shaftesbury Road, Woking, GU22 7DT, and there is no need to claim your prize as your winnings will arrive in the post.