Is there an election on already? Thoughts from the (sort of) campaign trail

Spent a fair old chunk of today traipsing round Bingley Rural banging in posters - around 40 put up today in assorted strategic (and not so strategic) locations. We've also got the deliveries more-or-less sorted for just over half the ward.

As ever, it was a real pleasure to go round the ward - everyone we met seemed pretty cheery. Lovely chat with a chap at The Bullfield in Harden - not about politics but about the seemingly endless task of sweeping up underneath trees and the testing of assorted different tools (those sucker-blower things are useless by the way) for this purpose.

Other subjects of conversation included Bradford Bulls - there were 24,000 plus at Odsal last night cheering on the Bulls and make their contributions to keeping the club going. It looks OK for a while but, as John (who I was speaking with) pointed out, "this doesn't solve the problem of bad management." And then there's the little gripes and grumbles - the latest one being flyposting. Or rather attaching advertising posters to lampposts without permission.

The thing with local campaigning is that you don't spend a whole lot of time engaged in serious debate about the great issues of the day. Not only do people not raise these things with you but there really isn't the time for such indulgence. When some politician pops up in parliament or (more likely) the council chamber and starts talking about what he is hearing on "the doorstep" don't believe a word. Most people tell answer your question - yes they'll vote for you, no they won't vote for you or, very, often something like:

"Er, is there an election?"

"I haven't thought about it"

"I'll read all the leaflets and then decide"

"I haven't spoken to my wife/husband yet so I don't know"

"I'm not interested"

Or maybe I've been asking the wrong questions "on the doorstep" for the past 35 years!

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Campaign Comment: the smoking ban

While canvassing in Cottingley old village this week I called upon an elderly bloke. Always votes Tory, which is good, but when I asked - as I always do - whether there was anything that concerned him this is what he said:

"The smoking ban. It is terrible, I have no longer got any social life. They make me - a disabled man - stand outside in the pissing rain where there's nowhere to sit. So I don't go out to pubs and restaurants any more."

So we destroyed this man's pleasure for what? For not one single life saved and on the basis of a misleading campaign against "passive smoking" - just because some folk, most of whom never went anywhere near a pub, didn't like the smell.

I appreciate this man's anger. Do you?

Update: Dick Puddlecote asks in the comments what my response was - to be honest I can't recal precisely. I agreed with him and sympathised - but as a Councillor I cannot change the situation merely express the anger shared with people like this. By way of making the point, we passed the Fleece in Cullingworth this afternoon - good crowd enjoying the sushine outside - almost all of them smoking.

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Campaign diary: Day Three - great views, charming folk and dogs

Back to Cottingley - onto the council estate for delivery. Not much to report - again a poor register, lots of occupied houses with nobody registered. This really isn't good enough - on the estate getting on for 10% of houses are occupied but not registered. Never used to be this bad - and seems to have got worse in recent years.

Canvassing this evening took us up to New Brighton and Lee Lane - lovely friendly people enjoying the sunshine. Canvassed a whole family of Jehovah's Witnesses - always a joy to doorstep JWs, partly from vengeance, partly from a wry sense of irony! Of course they don't vote - as the nice lady put it: "we've already voted - for God's Kingdom".

On a beautiful clear evening the views across Cottingley to Saltaire, Baildon and beyond were fantastic - spent more time talking about this than about the politics! Also booked a lawn doctor bloke who was working at one house - canvassing's a great way to find such folk!

Finally a note about dogs. There you are delivering - an innocuous house, no warning signs, no gates, no obviously doggy indicators and no barking. Swan up to the letter box, slip the leaflet through and bang! The lurking pooch takes half your finger off, blood everywhere, leaflets strewn across the road and loud cursing. Not good - and rather painful. Do these people not realise what their dog is up too?

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Campaign Diary: Day Two - into the village

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Yesterday on the fairy estate we got a good response - finished off there today with some discussions about the management of the protected land along Cottingley Beck. This isn't just a lovely place, it's where some faked photos of fairies were taken - lots of concerns about the management costs, preserving the place as it is and not seeing it as a cut-through to the school.

Which takes us to Cottingley village - the oldest part and a mix of converted terraces, back-to-back housing and in-fill. Again there were plenty of gaps in the register- perhaps less surprising here where the small, relatively cheap terraced housing provides an entry point to the housing market. Got some positive response from the work we put in to stop the Council selling off a piece of land used for car parking

Overall a decent canvass - lots of 'don't know', 'I'll read that' responses but no evidence of switching. which isn't to say folk aren't switching, of course! Not a great area for us, so a pretty decent outcome.

On the AV vote seems to be more of a concern to older voters - really strongly against. The referendum's not in my literature but there are mentions from residents - the national message seems to be getting through.

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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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Report from the Front - canvassing in Cullingworth

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Canvassing in Cullingworth today was – as it always is – a really pleasant experience. Met lots of my lovely neighbours, enjoyed chatting about their gardens, children and the state of our potholes – plus a bit of national politics thrown in where folk insisted! The morning concluded with Grant’s excellent pies and peas – what could set you up better for a further hour or two of doorknocking.

Main observations:

Really impressed by the number of people planning to vote for Phil Davies because he’s helped them out with some issue or other. One gent came up and shook his hand for responding very quickly to a query he’d e-mailed last weekend. As ever, good service matters

Also impressed by how many people are backing Phil because of his positive stance on personal liberty issues – the smoking ban, the unwarranted attack on drinking and the death of the pub.

It was also clear that even those who disagree with Phil respected his consistent, honest and principled stance on various issues

On a personal note, I like Phil even though he and I don’t agree on everything. The way he spoke with my neighbours, addressed a range of questions – general and specific – and was willing to take up the cudgels on behalf of residents was very impressive.

I’ve no idea whether the general response was good, bad or indifferent – although I can say that, if all the constituency gives the same positive feedback as Cullingworth did today, Phil will be back representing us in parliament with a more comfortable majority than the 422 his won by in 2005! Yes, there were Labour voters, there were one or two angry non-voters, a smattering of people planning to switch from Labour to Conservative, a couple of Lib Dems and even one voter switching to Labour because she likes Gordon Brown!

A good days work, I think.

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