-In January, Progress relaunched Third Place First, the campaign to help Labour win seats where it is currently in third place. This is part of our drive to assist the party kick off the 633-seat strategy proposed by NEC member Luke Akehurst in September’s Progress magazine. Keith Dibble, long-term campaigner for Labour victories in the home counties, opened the event, while election co-ordinator Andy Burnham thanked the 100-plus delegates for the fight they are about to embark on to win back the political south for Labour. Pollster Deborah Mattinson, former MP Joan Ryan and Progress chair Stephen Twigg gave their expertise to help make the event a success, and Hazel Blears announced the MP twinning service for seats without a Labour MP (contact her office if your CLP might be interested). As ever, the Progress speaker list (www.progressives.org.uk/speakerlist) is available to help keep meetings happening, and debate lively, in your local CLP.
Our campaign got an early boost with news that Progress member Jude Robinson leapt from fifth to first to win Labour’s first seat on Cornwall council. Congratulations, Jude.
-Did you get a call? Progress has long been an advocate of moving towards a fairer voting system, and last month we polled our members on the Alternative Vote referendum. Many responded, and members voted two-to-one in favour of reforming the way we elect our MPs. This is in sync with public opinion and the wider Labour party. A large number of those polled were undecided – 35 per cent – thus showing there is all to play for. The Yes campaign was clearly ahead of the No campaign, with 43 per cent in favour of AV, and 21 per cent against. Progress has now joined the Labour Yes! campaign and will work to support the change.
-Finally, congratulations must go to Debbie Abrahams for her excellent victory in Oldham East and Saddleworth. To all the Progress members who joined the roadtrip from London or met up at the campaign office, your hard work was really appreciated. And none more so than Kev Peel, who organised the Twitter-associated campaign ‘#Tweekender’ to turn out 600 Labour activists in one day.
Did you get a call? NO, probably because I am NO to AV and it has nothing to do with Stephen Twigg’s idiotic opinion that anyone who doesn’t want to fix the voting system is a right wing Tory! The Yes campaign and reasons why it should be supported changes like the weather which probably gives reason why some are undecided but for me lots of the myths can be dismissed very easily. The nonsense about tactical voting which will still be in place, even if after Labour has received 1st preference, the stupidity of claims about being fair, when the system defeats the campaign of the party that get the most votes, first time around and the wishes of those voters and perhaps the biggest bile of all, that the yes campaign will defeat the BNP which has now ‘progressed’, after the yes campaign was pushed, to being people can vote for them and still give us their vote – which is “wonderful for democracy”. A few things any of the undecided may want to think about are: Third Place First shows exactly what can be achieved without the need for the voting system to be rigged. The defeat of the BNP at the last general election showed that campaigning against the clowns is how they are defeated, not the introduction of a voting system which will let them vote. The yes campaign is nothing more than an attempted fix based on party economics to make so-called safe seats winnable. The funding of this campaign could and should have been utilized to fund the campaigns in these so called un-winnable safe seats. If Labour can find the money for this campaign, including events, websites etc. then it could find the money to make proper representations to the electorate. The last thing I will say on this is that Holocaust Memorial Day will be with us soon. Anyone voting yes and also thinking of supporting it needs to have a very serious look again at their yes campaign and what it deems acceptable for the price of a Labour victory because it isn’t Progressive.
I’m sorry, did you just say that introducing the Alternative Vote has something to do with the Holocaust? I’m appalled.
oh calm down ,I think s/he just meant s/he doesn’t like the BNP. Fair enough.
Yes Edmund I did and not as appalled as I am with the yes campaign saying that votes of the BNP are welcome if they vote for Labour as their 2nd preference!
but you could just put your cross next to Labour and leave all this other b…..s could you? with this AV business ? cos that’s all I will ever want to do ,cos I will never get all this Machiavellian stuff ,I couldn’t ‘ play ‘ it so would have to honestly rate in preference, but I simply could not put a mark next to any I did not ideologically agree with ie. none of the others ; asking me to pick between the Tories and the BNP for example,I’d just throw up.