Why May matters

There are now 3 months, 89 day or just over 12 weeks to go to till we face crucial local elections to County and Unitary authorities across much of England.

2,450 seats are up for grabs on 27 traditional County councils and Unitary Councils  – most of which cover historic county areas. There are also two Mayoral elections in North Tyneside and Doncaster.
All of these elections are all up and with the exception of Bristol were last contested in  2009.

We are defending 490 sitting Lib Dem councillors and minority control in Cornwall and Northumberland. In most other counties we are the opposition to the conservatives.

When they were last up in 2009 we had a poor set of elections, with Tories making large gains.Here is ALDC’s list of the councils, and the number and affiliation of councillors, facing election in May 2013ctionBit about the number and type of seats up. What happened in 2011 and 2012?
We have lost 1,150 seats in just two years.  But we held 1500 in the same elections.  Broadly we did better in conservative facing seats than in those facing Labour.  We did better in the South of England than we did in Wales , Scotland and the North.

In 2012 we began to learn some lessons about how to win in the new electoral environment. In 2012 we held  60 seats in wards that we had lost in 2011. Certain councils groups managed to buck the trends and we have sought to learn from their experience  –  see below.

Why will it be different in 2013?
We’ll the first thing to say is unless we improve, the results could easily be the same or worse.  Rallings and Thrasher are predicting on their analysis 190 losses (about 40%).

Organization is the key and we have learnt from those who were more successful in 2012 and  November’s American elections.

Key points:

• We can win –  9 net gains in principal local council by-elections since November are testament to that.
• The power of Connect
• Voter ID and data collection needs to been done earlier and in much greater volumes than have sufficed in past.
• New targeting – targeting voter ID groups has progressed beyond Squeeze.
• The last fortnight should be about Getting Out The Vote
• Recruiting and working with volunteers needs to be part of the weekly activity of each campaign team.

What we already knew, but is even more essential now:

• Postal Voters will decide the elections, so that encouraging our voters to have postal votes and persuading other postal voters to vote for us are both important .
• Targeting  – Monitoring  is powerful , and Connect makes it easier and less subjective.
• Messaging, literature and the visual campaign (posters and stakeboards) need to create a micro climate where voters believe we can win to counter act the national media.
• Pre 2010 canvass ID is unreliable for Shuttleworths in 2013  without testing.

ALDC are helping by:

• Setting up an ALDC Phone Task Force – weekly volunteer phone bank canvass sessions for target divisions.
• Helping to organise the National Days of Action, encouraging those without elections in 2012 to help those that do.
• Templates  – we are, as usual, producing template literature for our members.
• Administrering the G8 grants process.  Financial support for target divisions.
• Advice – Mentors have been appointed for each county group in addition to the ALDC election helpline and campaigns officers.
• Half price ALDC membership – it’s only £3.41 per month on Direct Debit for new members!
• Facebook group – A ‘safe’ online environment for ALDC members to interact with each other.

What you can do to help

• Help a target division on Saturday February 9th either in person or using the phone.
• Commit to helping  in a target division between now and polling day
• Learn the new skills and putting them into practice.
• Get out on the streets and knocking on some doors!

We can win, but only if we all work together. Whether we have local elections in our area or not, this is our chance to make a difference to the number of Lib Dem councillors elected in May.
It’s an opportunity for Liberal Democrats across Britain to make a difference in the areas that really need our support.  If there is no activity in you’re own area and you’re not able to travel we’re also setting up an ALDC Phone Task Force of volunteers who are willing to make 10 contacts a week to help us WIN.

Together we have an opportunity to send a very clear message about the future success of our Party.

It’s time to stand up and be counted