By Anthony Webber:
Since the Covid -19 crisis, those in what is loosely called the “freedom/liberty campaign have been on the back foot in virtually every strategic area.
It has not been the fault of numbers or enthusiasm, but on organisation.
By and large it is simply not there, or if it is, it is not up to the level we it needs to be.
There are hundreds of local and national groups who have sprung up out of the need to do something, but now there is growing realisation that success will only come about when there is more unity and co-operation.
One area which has had little effort compared to other areas has been the political.
We cannot ignore how important this is.
At the last local elections, especially with Mayors, Police and Crime Commissioners, there were some valiant attempts by “freedom/liberty” candidates, to become elected. Some did well but on the whole it was not successful for such candidates.
It is painfully obvious that there needs some professionalism put into the election process, otherwise an uphill task becomes more like trying to scale a cliff.
As part of this, how many groups asked their supporters to help local election candidates? The answer is pretty low. Ironically large numbers of people would have helped with local elections if they had been asked.
A key opportunity to challenge the government on their covid-19 policies has been missed with the small number of By-Elections which have been held since the General Elections.
Admittedly it is not easy in Scotland where the main priority for voters is whether the candidates are pro or against secessionism. The voter perceives a vote for a new party as a wasted one. Therefore a huge re-think is required on strategy is needed there, more so than in the rest of the UK.
So the Airdrie and Shotts by-election on 13th May was a big disappointment, especially as the votes of pro-UK parties were greatly in excess to those obtained by the SNP,( who benefited from the first past the post system).
The next by-election was held at Hartlepool on 6th May and that too saw poor results from parties campaigning for an end to lockdowns. This resulted in the Conservatives taking the seat from Labour.
The message that there is a viable alternative to government lockdowns and related policies just could not get through to the public. Having said that, the Liberal Democratic party candidate performed as badly.
The next by-election on 17 June, Amersham and Chesham, saw the Liberal Democrats take a Conservative seat, with the “ freedom” parties again performing dismally . The victors took the opportunity to take advantage of concerns about covid-19 vaccines coercion, mandates and passports. It seems another example of “ freedom” parties not assessing how best to win elections and how to learn from previous mistakes.
Batley and Spen was the most recent by- election, on 1st July, and here the Labour party kept their seat.
Interestingly in this one the Reform Party decided not to run, seemingly feeling that if they did, the Labour party would be likely to win, which they did anyway. It was further complicated by George Galloway standing for the Workers Party, obtaining a credible 21.9% of the votes. The Liberal Democrats only obtained 3.3% of the votes, but it was still more than those obtained by the “freedom” candidates, some of whose votes were embarrassingly low.
Old Bexleyheath and Sidcup by –election
We now face this next by-election, due on 2nd December.
So far it seems that there will be candidates from the four mainstream parties in a constituency which has been strongly Conservative for many years.
At this moment in time, two “freedom” parties, the Reform Party and the Heritage Party, have announced they are putting Parliamentary candidates up, Richard Tice and David Kurten.
Having seen what has happened in the recent by-elections, and in the London Mayoral elections ( where five “freedom” candidates stood against each other), it really seems to be overdue to have some meaningful dialogue between the parties/candidates. Otherwise, the “freedom “ vote will be split and it will be demoralising for “freedom” supporters, who want to vote for someone who can win !
It would be wrong to say there has been no interaction between “freedom” candidates, but this needs to accelerate to a more productive level.
At the same time, if no agreement can be reached on an agreed candidate in each by-election , then a politically able group of “ freedom” supporters will simply have to step in and declare a preferred candidate.
I have already started the process of reaching out to those involved on the political front.
Should anyone feel able to contribute to this process, they are welcome to contact me.
There are other by-elections pending, and there need to be different tactics for each one, but part of an overall positive strategy to win.
It has to be accepted that in Parliamentary elections, they deal with a variety of election issues which the voter is interested in. It is no use having a brilliant set of alternative covid-19 policies, if other key policies are missing. So it essential to not have “hobby horse” policies, but policies which inspired the British public.
If parties want to get elected on their freedom from lockdowns, etc., policies, then they cannot, if elected, assume that the public support all their policies.
This is why the issue of Referenda is so important because it covers issues which go across party boundaries.
Our nation has a Referenda system and a Petitioning process to bring a Referendum about.
This is exactly why we have a Petition to have Referendum on the Coronavirus Act, so the people can have the opportunity to abolish something many believe is illegal.
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/597665
If we want changes to things we do not like, then a Referendum is more dependable than hoping the MP’s will do them on their own.
75,000 of us have signed this and it is one banner of unity we can sign up to in seconds.
Let us get this to the magical 100,000 and get more clever with what we do politically.
Opinions from the Unity News Network (UNN) editorial team & various contributors. | UNN always clearly distinguishes between news and opinion pieces and as an open minded outlet we publish views from a variety of people and organisation that do not necessarily reflect the views of UNN or its writers. Articles published under UNN Opinions are always opinion pieces and if published on behalf of a contributor will contain that authors name at the start of the piece.
