HUSTINGS SPEECH 3.2.18
I’m a business owner, investor and employer, I run a successful manufacturing company that delivers jobs and growth here in Calder Valley. I’m also very solid Labour, in 2014 I gave equity in our company to the Labour party. I started campaigning for Labour from an early age. More recently I’ve leafleted, knocked doors, set up and run street stalls and fundraisers in North Thanet. My whole life has been steeped in socialist values and the combination of these this is rare among prominent Labour voices
This is significant when we’re talking about the kind of working class, small c conservative voters we need to win over here in Calder Valley. The manifesto is a brilliant example of industrial strategy, we built a successful business on those values, John McDonnell’s vision for how the economy can flourish in the 21st Century is a radical one
I know it makes sense for the UK economy and UK business. A government focussed on strong regulation, fair wages and a robust safety net has simply never been in conflict with the needs of business. Far from it.
I’ve struggled for stretches in my adult life, and know too well, the toll of worrying about making ends meet limits creativity. Now, as a business owner and investor I can see that austerity and cuts are not just a moral issue — though they are that — we are squandering vast amounts of talent.
The Tory vision for the UK economy is a race to the bottom and we need it to stop. UK Manufacturing is a tough place to be, cutting corners and circumventing the rules is a business model for many companies, but I’ve never been interested in organising my life like that.
SKILLS
Delivering wide-ranging campaigns requires a wide-ranging skill set, Labour in the Calder Valley has over 2000 members now, that’s a lot of people. The manifesto is beautiful, but also it’s a long and complicated message to communicate to our local audience.
The ideas I’ve presented in my campaign, are familiar to all of us, but they are not straightforward to execute well. Understanding targeted communications and online metrics is how we built or business, it’s part of the skill set I have to offer. Not only are these skills transferable, it’s part of what’s essential for any candidate to win a seat like Calder Valley in 2018 and beyond.They’re also needed to help develop Labour’s policies and success in government.
It’s crucial that we don’t underestimate the scale of the challenge ahead. I’ve earned success through understanding my own limitations and focusing on what the team can achieve, not myself. I work collectively, listening to and supporting the people around me, I promote a culture of transparency, fairness and being frank and accountable about our performance. Adapting to changing circumstances as we go. Circumstances will change.
But it’s not just about what happens under the bonnet, as the last election showed, candidates win credibility by talking to voters and challenging opponents face to face. Jeremy Corbyn has illustrated the necessity of public speaking. Corbyn was not a natural public speaker when he started out. I hope to emulate this journey with my own public speaking career.
STRATEGY
I know that some of you got the impression that I’ve been critical of previous campaigns and that couldn’t be further from the truth. The campaigning and energy and commitment and hard work was amazing, the campaign was smart and Calder Valley labour members delivered massively. We could not have got anywhere near Craig Whittaker without this herculean effort, Labour has been strong on the doorstep and this has brought measurable benefits in awareness, voter registration and votes
BUT
We didn’t win and that’s why we’re all here today, exploring why is essential to understand the challenge ahead. What I know from my professional life, and my experience in this campaign is that in 2018 Calder Valley people are very hard to reach. Just for example according to my phone canvassing only about half of our own members even knew these hustings were happening, only 20% of members are here. That’s not because they weren’t told, it’s because people have got complicated lives, their focus is elsewhere
Nationally, Labour have implemented sophisticated marketing strategies, Jeremy Corby is live to the power of technology. We need to deliver similar strategies here, turning national stories *like attacks on the NHS* into local ones *like what’s happening to Calderdale & Huddersfield hospitals* told with local voices and aimed at a local audience.
As I’ve said, we’ve built our business using the principles of the manifesto — yes, but we’ve also been very strategic with technology and communication. In my campaign I covered text messaging, email, facebook, twitter, leafleting, events and canvassing. Understanding the cost and benefit of each one is very important to building a winning strategy
2 weeks ago, not so many of you had heard of me, it’s been a uphill struggle, I’ve had to communicate to a lot of people in a short space of time. I’ve no doubt at all that has been irritating to some of you some of the time, but that’s what it takes to communicate.
CALDER VALLEY
Calder Valley is an unusual constituency in many ways, it’s a rural constituency with a diversity of social class and cultural reference points. This is wonderful but it provides as many challenges as opportunities for the Labour Party message to take hold. We’ve a unique patchwork of minority groups, the upper and lower Calder Valley need different things from their MP. Correspondingly, we need very different approaches when it comes to winning votes in those areas.
There are people who feel left out and left behind here and there are wards with strong hostility. The newly energised Labour party has made new inroads, take a bow Greetland and Stainland. We need to be clear, there are no no-go areas for the Labour Party candidate. There are Labour gains to be fought for in all wards across the borough, Starting with Scott, Colin, Oliver and the others the local elections in May
The Tory party is publicly disintegrating but many people in the Calder Valley have a real and justified anxiety about the future. The Tories still manage to win the narrative on jobs and economy. This is significant here in Calder Valley where yes, some people are doing OK but a lot of people aren’t and the area is yet to find its economic identity in the post industrial age.
Craig Whitaker presents himself as the jobs guy. He’s not. He’s part of government that delivers low wage, zero hours jobs, but many voters chose to go with him because they want a jobs guy — any jobs guy, to represent Calder Valley in Westminster. I believe that, given my background, amongst the candidates here today, I’m the right pick to challenge him.
Labour delivered a majority of over six thousand here in 1997, and I believe our next election target should be at least five thousand
