G8 Stage 2 - Register your interest

posted: 10/10/2008 14:47:35

filed under: news

Expressions of interest are now invited for Stage 2 of the G8 Grants for the 2009 elections – this is for campaign activity in the first four months of 2009. There's no time for delay – the deadline for applications for Stage 2 is 1 December 2009 and all applications must be with ALDC by this date. Grants are available to local parties who have local elections in 2009 (English County Councils and some Unitary Councils). 

Grants are awarded to pay for extra campaigning in your target wards/ divisions – places where we aim to gain a seat or those who will have a hard defence. They are not for building up no-hope divisions or for your "safe" seats. They are for seats that are realistically winnable in 2009.

For the county council elections, applications will be accepted at either district or county level.

The G8 committee will expect to see some evidence of campaign co-ordination between districts for their county council campaign, although it is appreciated that different places will have different local campaigns.

Click here to register your application, we will then get in touch with the named contacts for details of your campaign plans.

ALDC administers the programme of G8 Grants to help pay for campaigning in the run up to local elections.
G8 grants are paid for by kind contributions from the Federal Party, and from the English, Scottish and Welsh Liberal Democrats.

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Group Leaders at Conference

posted: 09/10/2008 16:31:02

filed under: news

The Federal Conference Committee has asked us to remind local parties and groups about the change to the regulations regarding delegates to Federal Party Conferences.

Group Leaders of Liberal Democrat Groups (on principle authorities - ie NOT town and parish councils) are now entitled to attend Conference as a voting delegate. This is in addition to a local party's normal entitlement to delegates. 

Many local parties will soon be having their AGMs and its worth bearing in mind that this might "free up" a space for another person to attend Conference as a voting delegate.  

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4th June 2009 for Local Elections

posted: 07/10/2008 17:26:15

filed under: news

Local and European Elections are set to be on the same day next year - Thursday 4 June 2008. Local Government Minister John Healey has announced that the Government will seek Parliament's approval to move the 2009 local elections in England to the same date as the European elections.

The decision follows consultation over the summer which showed overwhelming support for the change, including from the Electoral Commission, the Association of Electoral Administrators and the Local Government Association.

The changes to regulations also affect Parish and Town Council elections. These can now be held on the same day as two other elections - so parish elections can be held on 4 June 2009. 

Next year's local elections were scheduled for 7 May 2009, with the European elections due to take place four weeks later on 4 June 2009.

The draft order will be debated and must be approved by both Houses and made no later then the 7 November if the change is to made. It also seeks to address a number of technical matters that were raised during the consultation, such as ensuring that, as in 2004, the European election is administered on local government boundaries.

There are 34 councils where the 2009 election date will be moved - all English Shire Counties, and the Unitary Authorities of Cornwall, Wiltshire, Shropshire, Bristol, Isle of Wight, Bedford and Central Bedfordshire. There are 4 areas where the 2009 Mayoral election date will be moved. These are: Doncaster; Hartlepool; North Tyneside; and Stoke.

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More of the same please

posted: 06/10/2008 13:58:51

filed under: byelectioncolumn

There were eight principal council elections held on the 2nd October. The Lib Dems made two gains, one from the Tories and one from Labour. The Tories held five seats and Independents made one gain from the Tories.  There was one Parish council election result reported to ALDC, a Tory hold. Our very impressive gain from Labour in the Kirkleatham Ward on Redcar and Cleveland Council demonstrated the importance of standing candidates for all available vacancies in multi member wards. Redcar and Cleveland have all out elections, the last being in May 2007. In the Kirkleatham ward, in that year, both the Lib Dems and Labour stood three candidates each for the three vacancies. The Tories only stood one candidate and came third. We achieved 31% the vote on a single leaflet campaign. However it is at least reasonable to suppose that some of the 438 people who voted for the Tory did not waste their remaining two votes and voted for Lib Dems, with at least enough of them doing so to account for the margin of 70 votes that separated the 3 Lib Dems and the Tory.  If they had stood 3 candidates the chances are we would not have got 2nd place in 2007, the springboard to our success in this by-election.

Redcar and Cleveland  - Lab/Ind administration
Tory Labour Lib Dem Green Ind
11 27 14   7

Shropshire have wisely seen that by- elections will play a vital part in the build up to the County and Unitary elections next June. It can break new ground, build capacity, provide a training ground for new techniques, motivate the membership and provide local voters clear evidence of our ability to win  - vital in all elections. At the end of August we failed to make a gain by just 10 votes in the Shropshire District of Shrewsbury and Atcham so we were doubly determined that we would do better in the Castle Ward in Oswestry last week. A countywide campaign provided the capacity for the intensity required to win, despite the appalling weather on polling day.

 

Oh, and we had candidates in all principal by elections for the third week running!

 

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