roadmap to elections 2021 - labour party
TRANSCRIPT
Roadmap to Elections 2021
Paul Upex
This training session will start at 6pm.You will be unable to hear any audio until it starts.If you miss anything don’t worry as you can download the slides and listen to this sessions again. Visit https://labour.org.uk/webinars2020/
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To ensure that all of our local parties and candidates are using a wide range of resources that are
available to engage and persuade potential Labour voters
Aim
In order to achieve this we will be covering:
• What’s up for grabs?
• Guidance
• Selecting candidates
• Campaign phases
• National listening campaign
• Meeting voters on-line
• Using Dialogue
• Petitions/surveys
• Existing Councillors and candidates
• Tasks and checklist and looking forward
What’s up for grabs?
Our challenge
•Win back the trust of the British people
•We can win the next General Election, but we require a swing of 10.5% (larger than 1997)
•This will require building a very broad coalition
•Our first opportunity to do that at the ballot box is 6 May 2021
What’s up for election in May 2021?
The elections in 2021 will elect:
• Approximately 5,000 councillors in England, which is about 30% of the total. Includes all County Councillors.
• 40 Police and Crime Commissioners in England & Wales
• Scottish Parliament
• Welsh Parliament
• 6 Metro Mayors (possibly 7 if West Yorkshire goes ahead)
• Mayor of London and London Assembly
• 5 local authority mayors
and all the held over ward by-elections (likely to be 100+)
This is an unprecedented amount of elections occurring on the same day..
Elections 2021
Unprecedented elections in an unprecedented context
• Core principles of effective campaigns remain the same:• Clear understanding of the context
• Strategy focused on assembling a winning coalition of voters
• A clear, persuasive message
• Effective targeting
• Integrated campaigning using all the appropriate channels
• Volunteers who are trained, understand the strategy and empowered to deliver it locally
• But HOW we do that will need to adapt in light of COVID
Guidance
Guidance update• Leafleting / deliveries is now allowed from 4 July in England, please refer
members to guidance• Wales and Scotland there is separate guidance
• Please refer to the guidance for your respective nation• Online meetings can take place https://labour.org.uk/online-meeting-guidance/.• Street stalls, door knocking is not allowed• Facebook advertising - In line with many other organisations across the world,
the Labour Party have paused spending money with Facebook for the month of July. This is to show that we stand against hate online, especially in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, and urge Facebook to take stronger steps to tackle it on their platforms. We are advising that local parties do the same. Party units and members may still post on Facebook, however, as the boycott is only in relation to spending money on advertising on the platform.
Selecting candidates
Encouraging members to stand
• What are you doing to get candidates?
• Don’t assume that seats already selected
• Reach out to members and region office
• Signpost some national training or local schemes
• Ask existing Councillors and candidates help encourage other to stand
• Work with Trade Unions, LGA, Co-op , socialist societies
Overview of NEC decisions
• Local government selection meetings and NEC nominations meetings can now take place online, with voting on a platform provided by the Party
• NEW: Ordinary CLP meetings can take place online; though secret ballots not currently possible.
• Executive Committees authorised to make urgent decisions (e.g. signing of financial reports)
• CLPs and branches able to hold informal online meetings to keep in touch
Constitutional issues
• Only those who attend the online meeting will be entitled to participate in the vote
• Eligibility must be checked by CLP officers ahead of admission to meetings
• Usual procedures – e.g. separate ballot where a woman is to be nominated/selected – apply
• Good chairing, and clear explanation of processes, is vital
Online meeting guidance is availablehttps://labour.org.uk/online-meeting-guidance/
https://www.choicevoting.co.uk/knowledgebase/
Campaign Phases
Campaign Phases
• Listening Campaign(From July until end of September)
• Target voter engagement & early voter sign up (October until end of Feb)
• The Choice(March to GOTV)
• GOTV
(Issuing of PVs until 10pm on 6 May 2021)
Listening CampaignsJuly - September
“After the General Election it is clear that the Labour Party must take the time to listen to voters and understand the issues that matter most. This is the only way that we can re-connect with people who have lost trust in the Labour Party.”
Keir has been meeting target voters across the country as part of his Call Keir programme - listening to the issues that matter to them and starting the journey of rebuilding trust in our party.
Listening –National Campaign
Questions
National Campaign July - September
• National listening campaign – questions on Dialogue and please use them in local surveys – data stored in contact creator
• National print items – featuring Keir and additional surveys to follow
Listening Campaign - targetingJuly - September
• Key wards, key voters key areas , constituencies!
• Surveys, online and in print
• Online roundtables, meetings
• Community groups
• Dialogue
National Campaign questions July - September
• National questions:• A focus on leadership• Introducing Keir Starmer
as leader• Asking values questions• Asking about national
issues
• A picture of the electorate
National Campaign questionsJuly - September
• Issues questions
• Who and where and what issues more important
• Longer term targeting info
Listening –Meeting voters on-
line
Digital Community Mapping
What your area is missing?
What needs to change?
Who do people listen to?
Gives you an understanding of what you have to work with-who’s who
Who do people
retweet or share or
like?
Digital Community Mapping
Civil society – foodbanks, Tenants & Resident
Organisations, Mutual Aid groups, Faith Groups and
Trade Unions
Local media, local platforms, local
influencers
Local businesses and high streets shops, housing
providers
State – Council And councillors. Other elected representatives. Other sectors health, schools universities, care homes
On-line meetings with key voters
• Give at least a week to advertise a session
• Be familiar with the technology
• Have a chair as well as politicians
• Time limit for the call
• Be clear how people can submit questions
• Be clear on the language that people can use
• What the follow up will be • Internal online meetings and residents online meetings• Be clear on the objective, the audience and channel for your meeting
o Are you trying to recruit specific lost voters on a private meeting? o Or a community group where you can host a public event in partnership?
BE SECURE Don’t share the link to the meeting on social media – send the link to eligible members only.
BE SAFE Circulate the safeguarding email address in [email protected] and make sure you’ve read the Party’s guidance
BE ON TIME to make sure the technology is working and people can see and hear you.
BE CHATTY Have one person running the meeting and another person monitoring the chat box. Try to make sure that everyone has the opportunity to participate.
BE CLEAR The person chairing the meeting should make it clear from the start exactly how long the meeting will last, what will be discussed and how any official business will be carried out.
BE CONSIDERATE Anyone who isn’t speaking should try to mute their microphone.
12 top tips for Meetings
BE READY Get someone to put links and key points into the chat
BE ATTENTIVE If your meeting is with more than a couple of people, we recommend using written signals in the chat box to let people know you want to speak.
BE FOCUSSED Make sure your meeting doesn’t go off topic – we know people have lots of video calls at the moment
BE ORGANISED Make sure someone(ideally the CLP Secretary) is taking notes
BE ACCESSIBLE We’re aware that not everyone has access to online video conferencing. Make sure you’ve set up a process for people to get in touch, that they can receive information another way
BE EVALUATIVE After your first couple of meetings, take some time to review what worked well, and what didn’t, to make future meetings even better.
12 top tips for Meetings
Using Dialogue to speak to members and
residents
LISTENING
DialogueWhere to go: dialogue.labour.org.uk
Dialogue is the Labour Party’s online phone banking tool that enables members to phone canvass wherever they are. To use Dialogue, all you need is a phone and a laptop or tablet. Great device to use all year round not just in these times.
To get started, log in with your Labour Login and watch the ‘Introduction to Dialogue’ video. Entering your telephone number allows you to select from a range of calling options.
You can call members and volunteers using Dialogue.
Using Dialogue and Having Effective Conversations
• You can securely record either Voter ID responses when calling local voters or a range of member engagement, volunteering and skills audit questions when in touch with local members.
• For those members who also have access to Organise, you can use Dialogue to create a list based on searching data in Organise - for instance members with a particular skill or who have already said they want to be involved in a particular kind of campaigning.
• All data collected in Dialogue is shared back to Contact Creator or Organise the same day so there is no additional data entry step after you complete the call.
• For more information or to watch the training video, please visit https://dialogue.labour.org.uk
Print items
Residents’ survey – why you should do one?
Provide valuable insight as to what is important to our residents.
Find out what action they want to be taken.
Demonstrates we are listening and active in the community.
Provide valuable data to keep in touch with residents
Provide voting intention.
PrintJuly - September
Connects – print and digital platform
• Gradual redevelopment throughout 2020 and will resume with a print order deadline every Wednesday for delivery by the following Thursday from now on.
• A new social media products section which will enable to download of PNG and JPG files for use on social media. This means there are now 80 different templates available on the website (and in many cases multiple variations within those templates).
On line petitions and surveys
Petitions/Surveys July - September
• Do petitions ever achieve anything -and is there any point in signing one?
• Petitions by themselves don't do anything, but they can be a very valuable tool for change.
• MPs see surge in online petition numbers during lockdown.
• They can highlight local issues and allow you to measure support.
• Show strong public approval or disapproval.
• Petitions work best when they are specific and asking for something "realistically achievable".
• A petition can attract the attention of news media because it's a very tangible indication of public interest.
• Allows us to gather data that we are not collecting on the doorstep.
Options for setting up a survey/ petition
• Change.org
• Parliamentary site
A Labour Party Wordpress site
OR
• Your site comes with the ability to capture information from users using forms. These can be used for anything from a basic ‘contact us’ form to complex consultations and surveys.
• To see an example site please visit https://anneexample.co.uk
• To find out more or to sign up visit https://labour.org.uk/sites
• Or if you are an existing user and would like help, please refer to https://labour.org.uk/sites-help
Q –Petitions/Surveys– How to do it?A - Create a Labour WordPress site
Top tips to get your petitions/surveys noticed
• Ask members to like and share
• Use Reach to place Facebook adverts (on pause for July) • Consider your audience: who is the petition issue likely to resonate
with?
• Social care petition: older people or care workers?
• Local press
• Reach our through your community mapping
• Local message boards
Good examples
• COVID19 Petition https://www.islington-labour.org.uk/ppe-testing-petition/
• MPs http://www.sarah-jones.org/tram/
• Local Issue https://www.islington-labour.org.uk/oppose-islingtons-rogue-landlords/
• Local https://www.graveshamlabour.org.uk/petitions/
Recent national Labour successes:Scrap the NHS charge• https://action.labour.org.uk/page/s/scrap-nhs-charge
• Popular moral issue• Clear policy goal• Moment in
Parliament• Emotional hook• Strong call-to-action• Social proof• Forced gov’t u-turn
Recent national Labour successes:Holidays without hunger
• Popular moral issue• Clear policy goal• Moment in
Parliament• Emotional hook• Strong call-to-action• Social proof• Celebrity endorser• Forced gov’t u-turn
Existing Councillors and
candidates
Ensure existing Councillors and candidates already selected are raising their profile
Record of deliveryHave you delivered on any pledges
made since elected?Do voters know about it?What have you done? What will you
do?Who have you worked with in the
local community Are you keeping a record?Establish a narrative of both personal
and Labour delivery
Letting the voters know you are Labour Don’t rely on the Council
communications team to tell your story.
Don’t assume voters will know you are Labour
Make it political Don’t use Council speakRegular comms - little but often
Tasks and checklist and looking
forward
Other tasks What is the Marked Register? The marked register is the publicly-available record of who voted and who did not vote in a particular election.
Why does it matter?Knowing who votes and who doesn't is crucial to helping us target our campaigning efforts in future elections. At a local level for example, you can target likely Labour supporters who might vote in some elections but not others (so called 'patchy voters') as priorities for GOTV activity. You should then aim to enter the Marked Register data as soon as possible so that it can be used for targeting ahead of the 2021 election.
Other tasks Telephone lookup
As we do not know when door-to-door campaigning will be able to resume, we are recommending that CLPs consider ordering a telephone look up if they have not had one recently to better equip them for the campaign leading up to May 2021, which will see a huge number of seats up for election.
We can now confirm that we have received enough orders to meet the requirement for the reduced prices of £327 for a Standard look up and £662 for a Premium – a discount of almost a third on the full price. For the first time, lookups can be ordered for both Scottish Parliamentary Constituencies and Westminster Parliamentary Constituencies.
You can also fill out the form online: https://labour.org.uk/telephone-lookup/
If you have any questions, including when your constituency last had a look up, please do email us at [email protected]
Campaign checklist
• Marked register from GE 2019 entered
• Facebook page set up
• Like campaign running
• Print, digital and campaign leads identified and trained
• A phone lookup purchased
• Roadgroups set up
• Check delivery network gaps
• Agree campaign plans and target areas
• Candidate selection timetable
• Budget & fundraising plan
• Campaigns to (re)build relationships with key electors –this is a start of a journey
• Launch early voting campaign (signing patchy Labour promises up to postal votes)
• Local campaigns to identify crucial voters
Phase Three: Looking forwardOctober – February
• Postal vote sign up: think of ideas for what might work where• Can we use a local message carrier/ endorser• Local representative MP/MS/MSP/Cllr• Keir Starmer
• Turning listening campaigns into local actions• You said we did literature• Testing pledges with key groups• Online petitions
Coming soon…
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