2 years a PPC and it’s never been clearer what we’re fighting for

By Ruth Smeeth / @RuthSmeeth

Picture the scene, it was a cold wet November evening and over a hundred Labour Party members came to the Burton Caribbean Centre to decide who should be the new Labour Parliamentary candidate to replace Janet Dean MP. Speeches and questions complete, I sat in a room with my family waiting to be called to find out the result. In the end I won convincingly on the first round but after the jubilation came the big question: now what?

In the last 730 days I have, amongst other things: marched to save a factory; launched a campaign attacking a BBC programme on the brewing industry; started a new local campaign against the BNP; hobbled from one end of the constituency to the other on a sprained ankle over 10 days to meet my constituents; initiated a series of public meetings; visited over a hundred organisations; addressed countless others; spoken to thousands of people; and slept rough to raise money for the YMCA!

And I have to tell you that it has been an incredible experience. Never easy, regularly frustrating but absolutely addictive.

The joy of being a candidate is your exposure to people. You immediately become a trusted person (even in the current anti-politician climate). People invest time in you, they tell you their concerns and they ask for your help. It really is a privilege.

You also see first hand why the Labour Government is so important and what is at risk if we lose next year. On the doorstep I see the daily impact of our flagship policies; the winter fuel allowance; the national minimum wage; Sure Start and Child Tax Credits. Simply put, I am reminded every day why we as a country can’t afford a Tory Government.

Given the current economic climate it is not surprising that the most common discussion on the doorstep focuses on the recession. As bad as the current recession is, it often becomes a debate about the future and the past. As a party we need to remind people of what we have changed and what the Tories actually stand for. Remember local employment rates of 26% in some wards? Remember a generation who were lost because the Thatcher Government didn’t care enough to act? This recession has been horrendous for thousands of families but I am confident that we are doing everything we can with the resources available to protect our families and our communities.

Next year’s elections really will be about choice. To me, that choice is between supporting working families, or supporting higher earners. It’s between Sure Start or no childcare provision. It’s between paid holiday or no legal holiday requirements. It’s between the Right to Strike or employers holding all the cards. For me, the choice is a simple one.

But we as a Party, as a movement, need to remind the electorate about the eighties and warn them about what could happen in the future.

It is two years today since I became a candidate and there is still a huge amount of work to be done before the election. But more and more it becomes clear that it has never been more important to make sure that we do the work and win next year.

So come and join our local campaign, or any of the campaigns in key seats, to make sure that our communities really do have a clear choice.