Three years ago I was selected to fight South West Devon for the Labour Party. On the night of my selection over 50 local party members put their trust in me to deliver on my promises to run an active campaign from day one that would be innovative and local in its focus. Three years on, whilst we didn’t get the result I had wanted at the election, we can hold our heads up high and we should be proud of what we achieved together.
Do you think Gary Streeter would have broken his silence about Viridor’s incinerator if it were not for Labour’s campaign. Would Cllr Roger Croad’s conflict of interest have become clear if it were not for Labour highlighting the errors. What of the Plymstock Pool too? Would Cllr Vivien Pengelly have been able to repeat her promise election after election with no delivery without our campaign highlighting her election folly. We helped highlight plans to extend Plymouth’s boundaries by the Tories to include Tory wards in nearby rural areas so they always had a majority on the council. We held fast with our trade union comrades to oppose plans to sell CityBus that has delivered precisely what we warned it would do job losses and route closures. Would the Tories have gotten away with opposing wind turbines in Plymstock if it weren’t for us highlighting their opposition to renewable energy locally. And what of the Plympton Library, the speed humps on Larkham Lane in Plympton and increases in Council Tax?
Whilst the Liberal Democrats did well at election it was clear to me that they didn’t walk the walk between elections. It is disappointing that on polling day the Lib Dems put on votes whilst Labour lost them. Certainly, I doubt very much that they had delivered over 200,000 leaflets to homes over the past three years.
We’ve got to learn from this defeat though and amend our campaign style accordingly. We need to continue our doorstep work, our media focus and the nationally leading social media work that South West Devon is now known for. If a rural Devon constituency can be the national best practice example of how to use YouTube in campaigning then every other Labour party in the country should be using it too.
We’ve got another massive challenge – we have to retake Plymouth Sutton and Devonport from the Tories. There were some superb Tory MPs elected at this election across the country – talented and with politics not too far from our Labour values. I do not believe Oliver Colvile, the new Tory MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport, is in this catagory. I believe the new Tory and Lib Dem regime will do damage to Plymouth especially to those who need help from government the most.
That is why I won’t be giving up. I will continue to fight for Labour and for those people who need Labour the most. The local party in SW Devon has been superb. From delivering leaflets in the rain, in the snow and in the sunshine they have been there supporting me from day one and I am very grateful for their honesty, encouragement, energy and determination. Most of all I am humbled by how people gave up their evenings, weekends and spare time to help the campaign. Thank you.
I have learnt an enormous amount during this campaign and with more money and more members than we had before the General Election South West Devon Labour Party is in the best position it has been in quite some time to continue to take the fight to the Tories. I will be there doing just that and I hope you will too.
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