The Election only a week away!
The last three weeks I have not stopped;
Designing and printing leaflets, election addresses for all candidates in the Labour party.
Delivering leaflets and election addresses in Sholing or my own ward Bitterne
Stuffing envelopes for letters to postal voters
Chairing scrutiny and reading the bids for new schools
Going to party meetings and feeding back to members
Surgeries in my ward (I do two a month)
Going to work – yes I have to do that as well
And fitting in a relationship, friends and fun.
Elections have changed even the time I have been politically active. How? The postal voters and large numbers of then (28000 approx. In the city), means that the deadline day of the 3rd of May to inform, persuade and get out your vote is not the only one. The day that postal votes are sent out (the 20th) is now day where you have to you all information to the public out and to remind your vote that they need to vote. The small percentage of actual voters (30% of the electorate on average in the city) means every vote counts at local elections.
The turnout is disappointing every year. If the average is 30% that means that out of 10000 electorate per ward, only a maximum of 3000 people vote in local elections. In some wards in the city that figure is as low as 1600 residents. If you divide the average by three parties and in some wards there are more candidates, each party needs to get 1001 votes or more to win the seat. Therefore it is only ten percent of the voting public who determines which party is the winner.
If you take this into consideration it is why all three of the parties target their activity. Every year the party office receives complaints from parts of the city asking why no information or contact has been received from the Labour party in that area. The reason why is due to resources both financial and human, the parties can not deliver information to or go on the doorstep of every resident. There are parts of the city that will only receive information from one party or not at all.
This not due to laziness or lack of desire to engage residents but the need to use the limited resources that the parties have to target their activity. What is particular interesting this year that it appears that (apart from the Tories in Swaythling) it is only Labour who is fighting aggressive campaigns to win seats from other parties.
What is the big factor in elections now is it is not about persuading the electorate to vote for your party but ensuring the proportion the electorate you know vote for your party, do go out and vote.
School bidding to run new schools
This has become an odorous process, thanks to the government’s insistence on diversity of provision in secondary education. The different bids are in and offer Trusts and Academies. None of the bids offers anything startling new or additional for Southampton schools. As far as I am concerned what secondary schools in the city is joint leadership that provides services to their children that improve results, healthy lifestyles and education for life.
What I fear with different organisations that have different aims running city schools is a two, three or four tear system that offers different levels of education performance.
The last three weeks I have not stopped;
Designing and printing leaflets, election addresses for all candidates in the Labour party.
Delivering leaflets and election addresses in Sholing or my own ward Bitterne
Stuffing envelopes for letters to postal voters
Chairing scrutiny and reading the bids for new schools
Going to party meetings and feeding back to members
Surgeries in my ward (I do two a month)
Going to work – yes I have to do that as well
And fitting in a relationship, friends and fun.
Elections have changed even the time I have been politically active. How? The postal voters and large numbers of then (28000 approx. In the city), means that the deadline day of the 3rd of May to inform, persuade and get out your vote is not the only one. The day that postal votes are sent out (the 20th) is now day where you have to you all information to the public out and to remind your vote that they need to vote. The small percentage of actual voters (30% of the electorate on average in the city) means every vote counts at local elections.
The turnout is disappointing every year. If the average is 30% that means that out of 10000 electorate per ward, only a maximum of 3000 people vote in local elections. In some wards in the city that figure is as low as 1600 residents. If you divide the average by three parties and in some wards there are more candidates, each party needs to get 1001 votes or more to win the seat. Therefore it is only ten percent of the voting public who determines which party is the winner.
If you take this into consideration it is why all three of the parties target their activity. Every year the party office receives complaints from parts of the city asking why no information or contact has been received from the Labour party in that area. The reason why is due to resources both financial and human, the parties can not deliver information to or go on the doorstep of every resident. There are parts of the city that will only receive information from one party or not at all.
This not due to laziness or lack of desire to engage residents but the need to use the limited resources that the parties have to target their activity. What is particular interesting this year that it appears that (apart from the Tories in Swaythling) it is only Labour who is fighting aggressive campaigns to win seats from other parties.
What is the big factor in elections now is it is not about persuading the electorate to vote for your party but ensuring the proportion the electorate you know vote for your party, do go out and vote.
School bidding to run new schools
This has become an odorous process, thanks to the government’s insistence on diversity of provision in secondary education. The different bids are in and offer Trusts and Academies. None of the bids offers anything startling new or additional for Southampton schools. As far as I am concerned what secondary schools in the city is joint leadership that provides services to their children that improve results, healthy lifestyles and education for life.
What I fear with different organisations that have different aims running city schools is a two, three or four tear system that offers different levels of education performance.
