Here are some of our group outside the Henley Community Centre.
(from left to right are John Whitehead, Dr Dan Poulter MP, Linda Britt and Steve Britt)
photo by Andrew Whitehead
To see the relish with which our young and dynamic MP "Dr Dan" approaches the opportunity to knock on doors and engage with the local electorate is very inspirational. With six of us knocking on doors we were able to cover a large part of the village over the course of the afternoon. I was surprised how many people were at home and overall the response was most encouraging.
We were also canvassing for a NO vote in the AV Referendum and had some new literature on this theme to hand out along with our election leaflets. I was very pleased to see this literature as only the evening before, the LibDems had leafleted my house with a handout in favour of a change to this alternative system. I was encouraged to find that the people we met over the course of the afternoon had little enthusiasm for any change to the voting system.
Later in the afternoon we travelled over to Bramford to help Kevin canvas part of his ward. As it is the first time that both Kevin and I have stood in the District elections I think the mutual support is most helpful.
Although the election is not until May 5th we are very conscious that many people now have postal votes and therefore we need to reach these people well before the election date. The next task is to reach out to the known Conservatives with postal votes to encourage them to get those votes submitted. That, along with much more leafleting and canvassing, suggests that the next week will be very hectic.
The real trouble with the AV referendum is that a major change in how we are governed could be made on a very small turnout. Whatever the rights and wrongs of the decision, it's critical people turn out and vote.
ReplyDeleteAnd all the signs are that when people think about the issue, when they underestand it, then they want to vote "No". Good luck in "getting the vote out".