‘What went wrong in Uxbridge: a view from the constituency Labour party’

As a long-serving officer of Uxbridge and South Ruislip CLP, I’ve had the opportunity to see various campaigns across decades being run in our constituency. I have, however, never seen one quite like the campaign we witnessed in the last few months. The level of support poured into the campaign from across the country in the form of seemingly endless canvassers, activists and MPs who worked tirelessly for a Labour victory was truly amazing to see – and to these people I and the CLP are very grateful.

However, it was also unprecedented in some less positive ways. Though as always with campaigns of this magnitude and national attention, regional and borough organisers have a huge part to play, it is usually the case that this process is done with the active involvement of the local members and officers. This is for good reason – in areas where elections are being held, especially those as diverse in all ways as Uxbridge and South Ruislip, the local CLP will have a grasp of the local dynamics and issues that matter to voters; issues that can make the difference between a narrow victory or a narrow defeat. 

Unfortunately, the entire process from back in December 2022 was taken out of the hands of the CLP by the regional party, who dissolved the selection committee. The party cited alleged rule breaches but the move prompted suspicions it was due to fears that Danny Beales, who many considered to be the leadership’s preferred candidate, having received only a single ward nomination, might not make the shortlist. Then, during the campaign, despite efforts by members of our CLP executive to reach out to Danny Beales’ team, we were not given the full opportunity to be proactively involved and provide the local insight we had to offer. 

Given the wide-reaching impact of ULEZ, it is no surprise that it became an election issue. Whatever stance Danny Beales took on it would have alienated some of our electorate. However, what almost always has a detrimental impact is to appear to change your mind mid-campaign when it looks to be advantageous. In this case it handed a victory to the Tories in the form of legitimising their framing. If people are going to vote based on a single issue, they aren’t going to vote for a person who changes their position on it mid-campaign. I have no doubt it was thought that this change of messaging would undercut the Tory campaign, but arguably all it did was make our candidate seem disconnected and hesitant on a key local issue.

The campaign also took credit for the saving of the local police station, which had been due to close since 2017 until Sadiq Khan reversed the decision, making the subsequent argument that his policies cost us the election somewhat dubious. Had the party consulted the CLP, we would have warned that touting an apparent success which was, in fact, outside the candidate’s control wasn’t going to seem credible to voters.

Lastly, Danny may have been born here, but he has lived his adult life elsewhere, and since 2014 has been a councillor in Camden. Our constituency in the outskirts of London has changed a lot since he lived here almost two decades ago. I can’t help thinking that the Tory decision to field a local councillor was the right one for an Uxbridge and South Ruislip campaign, and perhaps we should have looked to have had a properly local candidate, who was known and liked in the area.

There are of course other issues at play, such as on-the-ground data being patchy and people having their doors knocked on multiple times a day – which does become annoying. None of these things are the fault of the thousands of brilliant volunteers who came out to campaign, but are learnings for future polls.

It is impossible to say whether the lack of a local touch, or ULEZ, was in fact enough to cost us those 495 votes, but in my view the things I’ve laid out were important errors in the campaign. All we can do now is look to the general election, but given the number of seats Labour will be trying to win, I fear the resources will not be on the same level as in recent months. Regardless, I know our CLP will be doing all we can to secure a Labour victory, and we hope to be actively involved in the campaign.