To win we must re-connect with our voters

By Jake Morrison / @JakeLabour

Allow me to introduce myself. I am Jake Morrison, the youngest ever Liverpool City Councillor. I won the election on May 5th 2011 aged 18. I beat former leader of the council and current Lib Dem peer in the House of Lords, Lord Mike Storey CBE.

There is no doubt the major reason why I won (and many other seats like this became Labour across the country), is because of the Lib Dem-Tory coalition government. My ward of Wavertree falls under Luciana Berger Liverpool Wavertree constituency, one of the key target seats for Nick Clegg and the Lib Dems at the 2010 general election. Clegg launched his campaign in Liverpool Wavertree, they targeted this constituency so much, and they told voters how awful the Tories are and why we must make sure that they don’t get in power. They told elderly residents their winter fuel allowance would be safe, they told students that university fees would be eradicated, and they told vulnerable people what they wanted to hear.

I was selected to be the candidate in September 2010, and began a regular doorknocking session straight away. Voters were already sick of the coalition, but that wasn’t going to win me the election. A lot of these residents and voters were simply disengaged from us as a party, and from the political process. We held public meetings, we put out leaflets with information on what we were doing, I visited community and resident associations, I went out on patrol with the neighbourhood police team and I was visible in the area.

As the campaign stepped up, and we had more help and resources, we noticed the response from residents. Councillors and cabinet members who were campaigning for me were surprised to find that a lot of residents were saying “Oh I know Jake, give me a (window) poster,” “I saw Jake at the local church, he’s got my vote.” I managed to get more than 400 window posters up in the area of my ward – local shops and residents were more than happy to take one and place it proudly in their windows.

We managed to re-engage with our disillusioned voters within a few months campaigning. This type of work across the country will play a key part in us winning the next general election, and will mean us taking even more seats in the locals next time.