A brief comment from the front - canvassing in Wilsden & Cottingley

Yesterday saw almost the final flurry of Phil Davies canvassing efforts – and where better to finish that part of the campaign than in my ward! Phil’s hardy canvassing team were joined by a few locals and we set off to knock of the doors of people who are out (one of the unmentioned truths of canvassing, this). And despite the weather we got through a fair old tranche of Wilsden and Cottingley folk.

Now at this point most reports on canvassing tell you how good it was, how the polls are all wrong and how the residents are very impressed by the candidate. Now this being Bingley Rural – where we like to be straight with you about stuff – let me tell you that the canvass was OK. Here are the main highlights, observations and comments:

1. There are a lot of undecided voters. This isn’t great as we don’t know how they’ll vote on the day. However, one quite common response was something like; “I don’t know but definitely not Labour” which does suit Phil as his main opponent is Labour.

2. Other than the occasional local issue just three concerns were raised on the doorstep – immigration, Europe and public finances (debt, deficit, cuts, etc.). May be different elsewhere but that’s been a consistent theme here throughout the election.

3. In the council houses in Wilsden we didn’t find many Tories. But we also didn’t find anyone who would admit to supporting Labour. And I was struck by more than one old Labour voter expressing, in one way or another, that they had “lost faith” or “been let down”.

4. Yet again, I was struck by just how many people had been in contact with Phil. And how every one spoke positively of what Phil had done. Even the man who was a keen supporter of extending the smoking ban was going to vote for Phil – despite them having a vigorous disagreement by e-mail!

So a mixed bag – mostly positive, some negatives but notably a vast swathe of “dunno”, “haven’t made my mind up”, “we’ll see” and – a classic this – “I’m too busy to talk right now!” However, I get the feeling that these undecided voters aren’t – in the main – going to plump for Labour come May 6th.

Now we move to getting folk out to vote (well the Tory ones anyway).

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