Scotland, Wales and the English local elections are now behind us. Next year’s elections are already hoving into view. If the mobilisation is anything to go by, London is up for the fight. I have never experienced anything like the level of activity that’s taking place around our effort so far out from an election.
In one two-hour period last month, activists mobilised by text and email delivered 27,000 leaflets in Kingston-upon-Thames, over the Tories’ threat to the National Health Service and Boris Johnson’s broken NHS promises. A quarter of a million letters to Londoners on the NHS have been delivered.
We’re working to raise our contact to identify our vote – but also to listen. We have a strong campaign centre, integrating the campaign team that helped me win Labour’s nomination with Labour’s full-time staff in the regional office and with national party officers to work as one Labour team. Twice in the past month, I joined London phone-bankers at Labour’s headquarters to call voters across the capital, and each time more than 100 people came along.
Those numbers are now a weekly occurrence. People of all ages and walks of life are hitting the phones to call the public from Bromley to Kingston to Southwark. Our campaign is mobilising new members and reactivating longer-standing ones. Young members continue to be a driving force. We’re calling voters in key parts of London to identify voters ready to vote Labour this time. Labour intends to speak for the whole of London, not only some parts of it. Boris Johnson has let down outer London: increasing fares, threatening local police teams, cutting police officer numbers. We are working now to reach these voters.
We have set ourselves some key tasks with this activity – first, raising our vote overall, aiming to achieve the swing we need to win, and talking to voters in areas where Boris Johnson can no longer take voters for granted. The phone-bank has become an essential new tool in that work. We can make thousands of contacts in one night, topping up the work of local activists. Second, we are ringing the thousands of new members to see how they can help. We aim to turn the new cohort of members into an army which will campaign even in areas where Labour has traditionally been less strong. And third, we are calling people to tell them about my public meetings in every borough.
Labour is committed to the strongest possible campaign. Boris Johnson will have money to spend. We’ll be out asking for the small donations that combined can make us strong enough to fight a well-financed Tory campaign. We’ll rely on our strongest asset: people. On the ground, teams are going out across London every week talking to local people about why they should vote Labour.
In May, we launched a new website using several new innovative features such as integrating Google street map into the header of the website and allowing people to suggest their own street. We’ve been using the website and other digital campaign methods to engage with the public and membership to deliver a vibrant and exciting campaign.
The Tories are desperate and have already agreed a plan of “differentiation” between David Cameron and Boris Johnson to help them both. In contrast, Ed Miliband and I are working together. And Ed will be hitting the phones with me this month to exactly that end.You only have to take a look at the headlines over the last week to see why Labour is so committed. Boris Johnson’s Tory pals in Wandsworth and Bexley charging kids to play; tube chaos; ongoing problems with the Barclays bikes; plans that threaten the murder squad; threats to local police teams and Boris Johnson backing privatised university education at £18,000 a year. That’s just one week.
We need to put Londoners’ values back at the heart of London government. But that will take action. Join us, and help play your part. Use my campaign website to volunteer to help.
