It was good to see many of you at Spring Conference in York. For those who were there, I’m sure it seemed that the party was focused on (and near obsessed with!) the European elections. When I spoke during the rally, I talked about why it’s so important we stay in Europe, but I also made a point to talk about the local elections held on the same day.
I am in charge of the election campaign this year and as committed as I am to run a campaign based around being ‘IN’, I am equally committed to running a campaign that is about your local track record in your wards and your communities.
Now, some of you will have read this far and thought – ‘That’s all well and good Tim, but I don’t have local elections this year’. If that is you, can you promise to do something for me? Please will you contact your MEP’s office and ask how you can best help their campaign? You could get Lib Dem voters in your ward onto postal votes, organise a polling day operation for your best areas or phone canvass for your colleagues in other parts of the country. Even an hour of targeted phoning could make a massive, massive difference to our results.
These elections matter. They matter because when I travel to constituencies all across the country to join their campaigning sessions, I am always staggered by the amount of people who know their local Lib Dem councillor or campaigner. You are the strongest advocate for our brand.
I am always proud to see how local Lib Dem councillors hold office not for powers sake, but to make a difference – and the difference you make can be seen up and down the UK. I want to protect and replicate that throughout the UK. Our party lives and breathes community politics and now more than ever we need to re-double our efforts in the weeks ahead. I know you will do that and I promise you that I will too!
The other big political event on the horizon is the budget. I am working with my colleagues in the Commons to try and push for more city deals to give power to local communities. This would give you the levers of power to deliver jobs and investment to the people who know their communities best. But it’s not just our cities that need these powers, our rural areas deserve them as well.
I am also pushing for higher borrowing caps which would allow councils to do what Lib Dem councils want to do – build more houses, particularly affordable and council houses. I will keep pushing the Treasury and Nick on these areas.
As always I’d love to hear from you about your ideas, what your council is doing or things you think we as a party could (or should!) do differently. You can email me at tim.farron@libdems.org.uk