Scottish Parliamentary Elections
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At the prompting of the Election Department, Glasgow branch will be looking shortly at the practicalities of contesting the May 2016 Scottish Parliament elections. I want to make sure we have the right information. Obviously there are many reasons for contesting elections but one has to surely be the opportunity of getting our manifestos through every letterbox. I assume I am right in thinking that if we contest the regional list (in Glasgow that is ten separate constituencies) then we will get the opportunity to provide the Post Office with a manifesto (~200, 000 addresses) for distribution. Is the deposit for this 1 x £500 or 10 x £500?
For the regional list, what is the situation regarding getting nominations? Do we need ot nominate a person for each cnstituency (ie ten). How many signatures per candidate? I have tried Scottish Gov website but with little reward.
Yours, confused of Glasgow
Brian Gardner
The Scottish Parliament is made up of 129 members. 73 are elected using the first-past-the-post system in individual geographical constituencies.
A further 56 are elected from eight electoral regions with 7 from each region. These additional MSPs are chosen from party lists.
Voters therefore have two votes. This also means that the Party can contest either a particular constituency and/or present a list in one of the electoral regions.
The deposit is £500 to stand in a constituency and £500 to present a list in an electoral region. So if we contested the Glasgow Region the deposit would be £500.
To stand only one signature is required (which in a constituency can be that of the candidate; for an election region it will be that of the Party's Nominating Officer).
Afraid there is no free postal distribution of an election communication.
Socialist Party Head Office wrote:The Scottish Parliament is made up of 129 members. 73 are elected using the first-past-the-post system in individual geographical constituencies.A further 56 are elected from eight electoral regions with 7 from each region. These additional MSPs are chosen from party lists.
Voters therefore have two votes. This also means that the Party can contest either a particular constituency and/or present a list in one of the electoral regions.
The deposit is £500 to stand in a constituency and £500 to present a list in an electoral region. So if we contested the Glasgow Region the deposit would be £500.
To stand only one signature is required (which in a constituency can be that of the candidate; for an election region it will be that of the Party's Nominating Officer).
Afraid there is no free postal distribution of an election communication.
If Glasgow agrees to contest the cost of printing and distribution of the manifesto will obviously come out of party funds.
No free delivery of leaflets is a bummer for me. I'm also guessing we won't have enough candidates standing for a election broadcast, either.The fact that i believed we would be entitled to free postage and Royal Mail would do the foot-work for us was what i was hoping for. The fact we don't get one changes things for me a bit. It is not the cost of the leaflets but the sheer logistics of pushing them through the letter boxes that has to be considered. When you say the cost of distribution of the leaflets will be from party funds, Brian, are you suggesting that tens of thousand of leaflets will have their postage paid. Even with what is called house-hold delivery, that will be costly and that is not even the printing costs. 10,000 = £660 If less than 20g. And if we encountered a dumping problem in the general election, i would guess it would be a tenfold increase with those. http://www.royalmail.com/business/sites/default/files/docs%20part%205/docs%20part%205/Royal-Mail-Door-To-Door-Rate-Card-November-2014_0_0.pdfA limited distribution of leaflets could be an alternative in specific areas and also distribution could be done at railway and underground stations and shopping centres via lit stalls with our banners on show but has Glasgow the labour-power able for this task which surely means committing it to numerous days and not just the odd sunny Saturday outing. Standing would get us invited to hustings and we would receive mentions in the press but those can be accomplished without actually standing candidates. I was an eager advocate of contesting those elections but now i'm slightly less enthusiastic. I'm not too keen on ourselves carrying the full burden of blind targetting in the hope of some response that is not guaranteed. Not good news But if the Party does accept the financial responsibility for the production and distribution of leaflets in adequate numbers plus a couple of local press adverts and Glasgow have sufficient volunteers (if necessary with the occasional assistance from other branches in the election campaign) and not have too high an expectation of fruitful rewards then it should put itself forward I await the outcome of their branch meetings and since the Parliament elections it is almost a full year from now, they can take their time and don't need to reach a hasty decision but debate it over a series of branch meetings, seeking further advice and information from the Election Committee where necesssary and it can also canvas non-attendees for their views as well as get an idea of how many will actually will volunteer and participate in the tasks ahead as candidates and election agents etc.It is a huge commitment for this branch for various reasons but a strategy has to develop for it to not only stop the slide but reverse the trend and instead grow, once more. Thoughts from afar…
Thanks for the information Alan. Swansea are faced with much the same problems as Glasgow in that we are all getting a bit long in the tooth and although we are aware the cost will be high for a full distribution it will imo be value for money. The aim in Swansea is to contest all elections.However, the Branch may well decide that a partial distribution will suffice. But then again it could well go for a full distribution. I will have an uphill battle trying to persuade them to have a stall every Saturday. To me a partial distribution and no stall is just going to be a token gesture.
Socialist Party Head Office wrote:Afraid there is no free postal distribution of an election communication.One possible option would be to investigate the commercial delivery of our election communication rather than depend on Royal Mail…
Gnome is right. Did a quick Google and it seems that you can get leaflets delivered for £290 for 10,000 when delivered with other leaflets while the option of being delivered alone will be more expensive. I know RM usually combine all their leaflets for a weekly drop.And if we can prove they are dumped they offer a refund. http://glasgowleafletdistribution.co.uk/cheapest-door-to-door-price-guaranteed/They will also do the printing and the various rates arehttp://glasgowleafletdistribution.co.uk/leaflet-printing/10,000 double sided A5 £160 but i would guess that will be pretty basic paper quality I'm guessing for Swansea a similar company will be operating at similar low prices for printing and delivery.
I would have thought that, even without any free postal distribution, it would be worth paying a mere £500 to get coverage throughout the whole of Glasgow on radio, TV, the local press, internet, hustings, etc. even if you did nothing else. But of course you should be able do something else, eg some street stalls, some leafletting (maybe commercial, though personally I wouldn't think it worth the cost — we did it in West London for the London Assembly elections in 2012 in a selected area of Wandsworth, Tooting as it happens.. I'm not sure it was effective).
ALB wrote:I would have thought that, even without any free postal distribution, it would be worth paying a mere £500 to get coverage throughout the whole of Glasgow on radio, TV, the local press, internet, hustings, etc. even if you did nothing else. But of course you should be able do something else, eg some street stalls, some leafletting (maybe commercial, though personally I wouldn't think it worth the cost — we did it in West London for the London Assembly elections in 2012 in a selected area of Wandsworth, Tooting as it happens.. I'm not sure it was effective).Possibly, the reason why it was not effective is because it was not followed through with a street stall on a regular basis.
The election campaign begins the moment a branch decides to contest an election and the candidates chosen, with letters and press releases to the local media, lit stalls, public meetings, newspaper adverts and contributions to online websites. And as Brian says , it continues after the polling day. Brighton is an example of a follow-up that has now led to a discussion group. Years of open air public meetings in Glasgow and environs led to a vigourous branch (even two branches) with its own premises. It will take the same sustained effort. We would be foolishly optimistic if we expect over-night success.However that sort of effort requires motivation and a need for younger, fitter members. Where do we get such new members? By going in search of them for starters. It may mean poaching them from the usual Leftists. Some of our finest members were once activists in other groups and parties. We are fortunate in Glasgow that there are older members with the experience and knowledge who can act as mentors to wean newcomers from Leninism and reformism.
Labour may not meet the same melt down in the Sottish Paliament election that they met in the General election but they are still on the back-foot according to the Green Party who expect 10 seats from them next year. Perhaps we can piggy-back on this publicity when the time comes…http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/green-party-set-to-take-10-seats-from-labour-in-next-years-scottish-parliament-election-10386915.html
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