Reading Liberal Youth

I have just about caught up on sleep, so here is my roundup of the election results.

Firstly, there is little hiding from the dissapointment that the Lib Dems will be returning to Parliament with fewer MPs despite gaining a higher share in the national vote. I would like to offer my condolences in particular to Susan Kramer and Dr Evan Harris, two fantastic hard-working MPs who came to talk to RU Lib Dems this year and unfortunately lost their seats.

In Reading, the results were very posititve as gains were made in both the national and local elections.

In Reading East – Gareth Epps, overtook Labour to come second behind the Tories with 13,664 votes. (Increase from 10545 in 2005).

In Reading West – Daisy Benson, although her campaign lasting only 4 months and was run on a shoe string budget  increased the Lib Dem vote significantly from 6,806  to 9,546. 

In the Council Elections - The Lib Dems held 2 wards and gained one from Labour. This was a great result! Daisy Benson retained her Redlands seat with a comfortable majority of more than 700 votes. An excllent feat considering she was also contesting Reading West. Rebecca Rye was elected the third Lib Dem councillor in Katesgrove and we held our seat in Tilehurst despite considerable efforts from the Tories.

Other postitive results for the Lib Dems include Alex Kirke increasing the Lib Dem vote in Park by 200%, Jane Marsden in Abbey getting within 27 votes of the Tories, Chris Burden gaining a strong second in Caversham and a huge increase in the vote in Church ward with Mark Whiley (RU Lib Dem President) as the candidate.

I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate the winning candidates from the other parties. Rob White deserves great credit for becoming the first Green councillor in Reading after campaigning in Park ward for several years. Rob Wilson and Alok Sharma ran a positive local campaign and I am sure they will both do their upmost to represent Reading in parliament. Finally, I wish Anneleisse Dodds the best in her political career, I have always been impressed by the manner in which she conducts herself and she is definitely in politics for all the right reasons.

I would like to say a HUGE thank you to all those that have helped the Lib Dems in Reading. Be it voting for us, delivering leaflets or knocking on doors, we really appeciate it and take nothing for granted. Lets work hard and build on this election success.

The Liberal Democrats have a fantastic array of local candidates standing for the council on Thursday.

I am trying to cover our candidates in predominantly student areas as I don’t have the time to give them all justice.

Park Ward is the area area Wokingham Road, including the roads behind the parade of shops where lots of students live.

Alex Kirke is the Liberal Democrat candidate and fighting to replace a Labour incumbant.

Alex graduated from Reading University only last year and has lived in Park ward since 2007. He understands what it is like to live in Reading as a student.

The local Liberal Democrats throughout the year have conducted surveys and listened to residents, reporting graffiti, anti social behaviour, parking issues and overflowing skips.

Alex is a committed honest local campaigner with bounds of energy. He  is eager to join a growing group of hardworking Liberal Democrat candidates.

I am sure Alex will make a fantastic local councillor and I hope he can count on students support on Thursday.

See his blog for more information http://alex-kirke.blogspot.com/

For me this election campaign has shown a clear choice between an old fashioned politics or a new dynamic approach.

Nick Clegg has run a fantastic campaign showing the electorate what the party is really about. Giving power back to the people, entrenching fairness into society and changing the rotten political system for good.

There is little surprise that once the electorate see Nick and hear Lib Dem policies then support comes our way. People are fed up of the blue and red teams acting as if they have a divine right to rule. The public want something different and this has been reflected in a surge of support for the Lib Dems.

The manner by which Nick Clegg and the Lib Dems have come under attack from the media and the old parties demonstrates how scared they are of real change. Only over the past week I have heard from the right wing Murdoch owned press that Clegg is a Nazi, that he has laundered money and that he smuggled people out of the country!

The Lib Dems policies have also been vastly misinterepted - Here are a few I wish to clarify. We won’t join the euro unless it would benefit the British economy and would go through a public referendum first. A one off amnesty on illegal immigrants is a sensible policy, you can’t find them, and therefore getting them out of crime and paying taxes must be a good thing. We haven’t made any deals or decisions on who to back if there were a hung parliament, the public make the decision not the Lib Dems. My list of rebuttals could go on!

So the ones who defend old politics are frantically attacking those that support a new approach, trying to scare the public into voting for Labour or the Tories.  But people are sick of being told that they must vote for the lesser of two evils.

It is the public’s support for the Liberal Democrats that has made this one of the most exciting elections in generations. The Guardian and The Observer have turned their backs on labour declaring the Lib Dems as the new progressives, young people are registering to vote in their drones, polls constitently put Lib Dems ahead of Labour and membership to the party has soared. There is no denying that the political system has been shaken up.

So lets hope that May 6th will be a dividing line in British politics, out with the old and in with the new!

Many knew that the TV debates would be good for the Lib Dems – few predicted this good! As polls stand -

Populas has us 2nd 1% behind Tories
New Angus Reid has us 1% ahead of both Labour and the Conservatives.
Compres has us equal with Labour on 28%
All these of course have error margins of around 2/3%

This bounce in support is real. It has been most evident amongst young people who are sick of red/blue politics and want something differernt. The Times has stated in their poll that 39% of 18-24 year olds will vote Lib Dem.

 The evidence is clear. We have knocked on students doors over the past two days and the response has been incredibly positive. The “It Worked for Rage against the Machine lets get the Lib Dems in” Facebook group currently has over 120 000 members! Friends from across the country are telling me they are voting Lib Dem for the first time. Young people are rightfully excited at the prospect of breaking down the rotten two party system.

A vote for the Lib Dems is not a wasted vote. Get involved with the campaign, put up posters, tell your friends and family and support the Liberal Democrats. For more information email rulibdem@hotmail.com

Daisy Benson is the Lib Dem Parliamentary Candidate for Reading West and is councillor in Redlands, which includes the area around Erleigh Road.

Background
Daisy was born in London in 1978. She completed an MA in English Literature and Politics at Edinburgh University before moving to Reading in 2003 to work in a small PR firm. Daisy has worked at a large public sector organisation as a public affairs officer since 2005.

She was elected to serve as a Redlands councillor in 2006. She is now the Lib Dem Group Deputy Leader and the Chair of the Housing and Health Scrutiny Panel.

Daisy is on the board of the Empty Homes Agency a position which recognises her campaign to bring empty homes back into use across the Borough after years of this issue being ignored.

Always a strong campaigner for safer communities, Daisy was elected in 2009 to the Local Government Association Safer Communities Board as one of the Liberal Democrat representatives.

Why Support Daisy?

Hardworking – She is an immensley popular local councillor who has built up a reputation for hard work representing her constituents. She regularly tops the list for the most casework completed by a councillor. Daisy is widely recongised for her use of social media to engage with constituents, she has over 1000 followers on twitter and regularly updates her blog.

Campaigns – Daisy has worked on a huge range of campaigns since becoming councillor in 2006. These include getting empty homes into use, improving on street parking, tackling grafitti, getting bottle banks installed, cracking down on fly tipping, the list could really go on!

Standing up for Students – Daisy has done a lot of work to improve the standards of private rented housing in Reading. In particular, she has raised the need to reinstate the Housing Accreditition Scheme. Daisy has campaigned to get students registered to vote, she spearheaded the campaign to get a polling station on campus and has gone door to door in student areas handing out registration forms.    

Contact Daisy

Daisy is always happy to hear from residents about any issue. Her email is redlandslibdems@hotmail.co.uk.

More Information

Redlands Blog – http://www.redlandslibdems.org.uk/

Reading West  – http://www.daisybenson.com/

Gareth Epps is the Lib Dem Parliamentary Candidate for Reading East which covers the majority of Reading University campus.

Background
Gareth lives near the Royal Berkshire Hospital in the heart of Reading. He works for a major infrastructure project, specialising in community consultation. He worked for the Liberal Democrats and then as a freelance for six years before joining a Reading-based public relations company in 2002. He formerly served on the Executive of Reading Council for Racial Equality.

Gareth first joined the Liberal Democrats in 1992 and became active as a response to the then Conservative Government’s attacks on civil liberties. He stood against David Cameron in Witney in 2001, increasing the Lib Dem share of the vote. In 2007 he won the formerly safe Labour ward of Katesgrove on Reading Borough Council on a huge swing. He is currently Communities and Neighbourhoods shadow of the Liberal Democrat Group on Reading Borough Council.

Why Support Gareth?
Experienced Local Campaigner – He has led campaigns on recycling, local policing, housing and Post Offices. He is regularly placed as one of the top 10 most hardworking councillors in Reading in terms of casework completed. Gareth truely listens to the concerns of residents and spends time knocking on doors, holding surgeries and taking part in debates.

Genuine Voice for Students – Gareth has argued from his time on the Lib Dem Youth & Students’ executive that university tuition fees and, more lately, top-up fees should be axed. He has led campaigns against the scrapping of the Bulmershe Bus, the closing of the Health and Social Care department and improving the standard of private rented housing in Reading. He is very concerned about the level of debt young people are in and their difficulties in finding jobs in the recession.

A different type of MP – Gareth was dismayed by the politicians who became embroiled in the expenses scandal. He believed it represented more than corrupt individuals but a corrupt political system. He is intent on helping clean up politics and bringing people back to the people.

Contact Gareth

If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact Gareth directly – garethepps@cix.co.uk

More Information

Reading Lib Dems – http://www.readinglibdems.org.uk/

Katesgrove Blog – http://www.katesgrovelibdems.org.uk/

The Lib Dems have announced a full slate of candidates for the local elections held on Thursday May 6th.

More than half the candidates are women and 3 are former Labour Party members.

Alex Kirke former Conservative Society President at Reading University is standing for the Lib Dems in Park ward.

He said,  “I was inspired by the Liberal Democrats’ message of fair taxes, clean government, and a decent start for every child. Reading needs a real change, and I know that the Conservatives simply have nothing new to offer”.

The full list of candidates is:

Abbey – Jane Marsden

Battle – Uda Chalk

Caversham – Chris Burden - 

Church – Mark Whiley (RU Lib Dem President)

Katesgrove – Rebecca Rye

Kentwood – Margaret McNeill

Minster – Mike Taylor

Norcot – Julie Hopkins

Park – Alex Kirke

Peppard – Pauline Arthur

Redlands – Cllr Daisy Benson

Southcote – Susan Bicknell

Thames – Guy Penman

Tilehurst – Cllr Ricky Duveen

Whitley – Roy Haines.

Well as Gordon Brown said it was the worst kept secret in history. The general election has been called for Thursday 6th May. Between now and then Reading Liberal Youth will be campaigning to elect Lib Dem MPs.

 You can help in so many ways – Putting a poster in your window, delivering a few leaflets, coming out canvassing, persuading a friend to vote Lib Dem, every little really does help.

Please send us an email at rulibdem@hotmail.com if you want to lend a hand.

Now is the time to get involved!

Once again council casework stats show Lib Dem councillors working harder than their Labour and Conservative counterparts.

Five out of the top ten councillors in terms of casework reported are Lib Dems. Two of which are also Parliamentary candidates Gareth Epps (Reading East) and Daisy Bension (Reading West)

Despite being a group of only 8 councillors, the Lib Dems are far better at helping local people than the other two parties. This is a consistent trend which holds from quarter-to-quarter.

I am not usually one to comment on the polls as they dip and peak like a rollercoaster. However when its good news…

Possibly a consquence of Vince’s great performance in the Chancellors debtate.