Door to door political campaigning can start 8 March - what to ask your LABOUR candidates

[Whydoyouthinkthatthen]

There will be elections in May and campaigning can start 8 March. I thought it would be a good idea to have a series of threads so people can easily create a piece of paper to sit by the front door with issues to raise with each party.

The idea is to make it clear that women are prepared to make a fuss about these issues, and take their votes elsewhere.

Show each candidate what position their party has taken and how you would like that to change.

Research your local candidates if you can, and make it clear you will vote for the party (or candidate) that is clearest on women's issues.

So, my starter question for Labour:

Do you think all women shortlists are a good idea?
Do you think all women shortlists should contain men?
Why does Labour allow self-identified women on all women shortlists?

Link to Labour Party statement on the issue:
labour.org.uk/about/how-we-work/nec-statement-women-shortlists-womens-officers-minimum-quotas-women/

I agree Stocks. Before the GE I visited a relative who lives in a very safe Tory seat I saw a group of about 30 people campaigning for the Labour party, but they couldn't even spare one person to even just deliver leaflets in my area

I’ve just moved and kinda interesting situation that because borough council area and MP constituency areas don’t match up, I live in a very safe Labour council area but have a very safe Conservative MP. It will be interesting to see if either or any of them are out canvassing at all.

As well as party issues (I wrote this on the LD thread as well) If I get the opportunity, I will ask candidates about their views on council funding for local DV services providing single sex services.
Local VAWG strategy
The councils response to the Stonewall FOI (once they actually respond!) and the candidates’ thoughts on Stonewall memberships for the council and local schools.

I'm a Labour Party member and if door-to-door canvassing is organised in my area I'll be one of the people knocking on the door.

I hope that me and my colleagues will be asked whether we support Labour's 2019 general election manifesto pledge to ensure that the single-sex exceptions in the Equality Act are understood and fully enforced in service provision. This is relevant at local as well as national level. It was hard to get it agreed and into the manifesto, and it'll be helpful for those of us fighting the good fight within the party if we can say it's something that matters to voters and was raised on doorsteps.

Wikipedia says:

Local elections in the United Kingdom are due to be held on 6 May 2021 for English local councils, thirteen directly elected mayors in England,[1] and 39 police and crime commissioners in England and Wales.[2] There are also elections in the parliaments and assemblies of Scotland, Wales and London, the last in conjunction with the London mayoral election.

In March 2020 the government announced that the elections scheduled for 7 May 2020 would be delayed for a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They are now to be held at the same time as the elections previously scheduled for 2021.[3]

The seats up for election are those last contested in 2016 and 2017. New unitary authorities to replace the county and district councils in Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire are due to hold their inaugural elections this year.
**

I'd not thought until now that this makes the elections this year a far more significant event than normal, as so many are happening on the same day.

Local issues with connections to women's rights/child safeguarding:

Schools - is your party ensuring/would your party ensure that the Dept of Education revised guidance on Relationships and Sex Education teaching has been acted on, and have you made sure that all schools are not working with organisations that tell children they can change sex, e.g. Mermaids? Links to Schoolsweek article and Transgender Trend article follow.
schoolsweek.co.uk/cancel-culture-gender-stereotypes-and-extreme-political-stances-what-new-dfe-guidance-says-about-rse/
www.transgendertrend.com/department-for-education-rse-guidance-schools/

Schools again - are you ensuring/would you ensure that toilets, changing rooms and accommodation on residential trips will remain single sex, not single gender? Link to Women's Place article on legislation showing that this is a statutory requirement for children over the age of 8.
womansplaceuk.org/mixed-sex-toilets-ins-chools/

Schools yet again! - are you ensuring/would you ensure that school staff must talk to parents/guardians if a child wants to socially transition at school and change name, pronouns etc? Would you agree that parents/guardians should never find out about this social transition after it's already happened? In what other circumstances would staff collude with a child to keep something secret from parents/guardians, in contravention of all established safeguarding principles?

Social care - are you ensuring/would you ensure that if a person who needs carers in their own home or in residential care specifies that the carers must be of a given sex, that will be biological sex, not gender? Again, basic safeguarding.

Health (relevant to Scottish and Welsh elections) - as above, in healthcare terms.

Crime - do you agree that crime statistics need to be accurate and that recording perpetrators by their gender identity instead of their biological sex is distorting that? The stats on sexual crimes are already starting to look very odd, with some rapes recorded as committed by females, when English law states that rape can only be committed if the penis is involved.

Crime again - hate crime doesn't currently include misogyny. What would your party do about that?

COUNCILS DO NOT RUN SCHOOLS

COUNCILS DO NOT RUN THE POLICE

@ListeningQuietly, surely Local Education Authorities still have some involvement with schools? Anyway, as I made plain, there are elections in Scotland and Wales which definitely do have oversight of schools.

Also, Crime Commissioners are being elected. Surely they have some say over what the police do? Here in London the Mayor has a committee which oversees the Metropolitan Police.

Gaspode
LEAs have no control over academy schools
2/3 of secondary schools are Academies
1/2 of all primaries are Academies

Police and crime Commissioners are being elected but they are not linked to the councils

Parish Councils are normally non party.

Brits have to get the hang of "Split Ticket" voting, as is the norm in the USA

@Redshoeblueshoe

Liquorishtoffee I live in a very safe Labour seat. At the last GE no one canvassed at all

I thought I lived in a very safe labour seat. Our excellent local candidate lost out to a tory in the last election.

I'd just ask about self-ID. Living in London there is the example of Hampstead Ladies' Pond to reference.

I thought I lived in a very safe labour seat. Our excellent local candidate lost out to a tory in the last election.
These are COUNCIL elections, not MP elections.

I think there will be more leaflets being posted out rather than door knocking - seems to be a trend even without Covid.

@ListeningQuietly

HEALTH : NHS is NOT part of the local elections. All women shortlists : how many District Councils have shortlists for vacancies? How many Parish councils. These are LOCAL elections

Who do we vote for is not Labour or the Lib Dems ?

What about adult social care? That’s under the LA. So is Children’s services. What about local leisure services? If a local group your child attends is single sex?

In Leeds the Labour COUNCIL have brought in self ID. Loads of Independents stand in local elections.

In Leeds there are eight independent councillors. The Garforth & Swillington Independents are openly GC.

The Labour Party DOES have a female quota for council election candidates.

It was Labour COUNCILLORS who stopped the WPUK meeting in Leeds.

Please don’t dismiss the importance of these elections.

I know that local elections are important

but if we cannot vote for Labour or the Libdems
do we have to vote for Austerity Brexiter Tories?
really?

@Redshoeblueshoe

Liquorishtoffee I live in a very safe Labour seat. At the last GE no one canvassed at all

That's just bloody lazy. My father is a county councillor. He won the last election with just under 80% of the vote against three other candidates. He wrote huge numbers of letters (hand delivered), I don't know how many hours worth of door-knocking (if I wanted to see him I needed to join in), and I know he'll do the same again next time. Yes, it's a safe seat, but only because he puts in the work in between the elections, and the legwork/shoe leather/ ink at election time.

Realise that might seem really aggressive Redshoeblueshoe - I don't mean it to be! I just get really irritated by politicians not bothering.

live in a very safe Labour seat. At the last GE no one canvassed at all

Same here.

I would have absolutely loved them to have done so! Would have enjoyed the encounter.

What I will be asking Labour candidates is to get of my drive, along with the Lib Dems and Greens, I just won't answer the door to the Tories.

This is actually all moot anyway because in the 20 years I have lived here I have literally never had any party candidates / representatives come to the door other than to quickly shove a leaflet though. This is because I live in an area that has had the same useless Tory MP since 1992 , no-one else has a chance round here and she knows it which is why she has ignored every email I've sent her.

ThoroughThink I have no problem with what you wrote

I think you must be in the same constituency as me Popcorn, no-one seems to have a good word to say about her but she still polls more votes than all other candidates combined

The next-door constituency to the east, where my partner lives, was much more interesting - canvassers out in force on his High Street. The Labour team seemed completely unaware of the issue, the Lib Dem woman was pro the party line on self ID. Am hoping either my partner or I will see her again - planning on asking how well she thought the Lib Dem position on self-ID worked for Jo Swinson.

God, hopefully there aren’t two like her @redsplodge! Although there might be because I’m pretty sure east of here is yet more Tory heartlands sadly. 😱

I hope so too Popcorn! Not least because that means I'm not the only constituent who's contacted her over women's rights.
Tory heartlands to the east of me too, but there was an independent (prominent ex-Tory) standing which I think brought the party canvassers out.

Would that be in a place starting with B @redsplodge?

Constituency to the east of me doesn't start with a B Popcorn, but the one S/SW of me does - and that's another safe Tory seat that had an ex-Tory independent candidate standing in 2019.

Ah OK so you probably are the same MP as me - commiserations!!