Whilst we all put a great deal of time into our literature, the reality is that once it lands on someone’s doormat you have between 6-10 seconds to make an impression on those picking it up off the doormat and walking to the kitchen bin.
Both parties are predicting an historic low voter turnout , with the apathy party the likely winner. I don’t want to predict the result, though I am emboldened by doorstep conversations.
The reality is that a ‘You Can’t Trust Labour’ message can be soundly founded and vigorously pursued.
Conservatives must earn their position to serve in Croydon, with tightly-fought elections. Labour expects to rule in Lambeth without any serious contest, getting away with ignoring local people and their legitimate concerns.
Virtually no one – no matter how much it might bruise the ego – listens to your council meetings. Posting on your website is not going to cut it. Harvest data and offer more emails, push out weekly news and text alerts alongside social media updates.
The electorate is disillusioned. It does not think much of politicians. When it hears accusations that one side or other is corrupt or dishonest or on the side of terrorists or paedophiles, the whole system gets contaminated.
Our mantra must be that finances are better managed by Conservatives than Labour.
Our focus groups found the Party’s recent tweet, which featured a BBC newsreader raising her middle finger to the camera, played very badly with the people it needs to win back.
We have become a party for whom the grotesque is the primary mode of communication. Just to reiterate, I’m not talking about policy or principle here, but a predilection for the odd and off-putting in presentation.
Those messages were short and punchy. A promise to ‘Freeze Council Tax’ was strongly pushed online and in leaflets – despite there being absolutely no chance of it happening.
Labour councillors complain about the lack of Government funding whilst continuously wasting public money. Spending nearly five hours at the full council meeting debating the conflict in Gaza is not a good use of time.
It is increasingly obvious to me that our success lies in finding those local issues which we care about passionately and which really matter to our residents.
Shropshire Council, under Conservative control, has generally been satisfactory. Progress has been made in addressing road maintenance which has long been a source of frustration for residents. The Council was not the target of the voters’ ire.
Blair won the leadership of the Labour Party confronting left wingers, and promising to take the party to the centre ground. In contrast, Starmer won the leadership promising a hard-left agenda.
Ground campaigning will be hugely important to how well the party does. The success of the short campaign largely depends on the work done now.