If you think you might like to stand for election yourself in the future, please register your interest below, and we’ll be in touch. (Don’t worry, there’s no obligation, we’ll just get in touch with you when we have more details ready).
What is involved?
We’re looking for candidates in both local elections and in the next general election. Local elections are where local councillors are elected to serve on district or county councils. General elections, of course, are for electing members of parliament.
General elections are called at the Prime Minister’s discretion, which can be any time up to five years from when the government were elected. It is normal practice, of course, for the government to time elections for when they think they are most likely to win. So, unless we have another war (and win), we just have to assume for now the next general election will be in May 2009.
Local elections operate on a more fixed schedule, with different councils operating on different schemes. The next major round of local elections will be in May 2008 in which we hope to field up to one hundred local candidates.
You can stand as a candidate for either or both types of election. We encourage candidates who wish to stand as an MP to also stand in next years local elections so they can gain some valuable experience.
Is it Expensive?
Standing for Member of Parliament is quite an expensive affair. The basic cost is for the deposit (£500) which we only get back if we receive 5% or more of the votes cast. But to run an effective campaign, we have to leaflet each house in a constituency as well. In fact, each candidate is entitled to one free leaflet delivery by the Post Office to every constituency address. This is a major benefit to us, as a large part of the reason for our standing candidates is to get publicity. With an average of 40,000 homes per constituency and printing leaflets costing around £600 pounds, this gives us a very cost effective mechanism to reach everyone in an entire region for a little over £1000. Of course, the campaign itself will involve other expenses for the party, such as travel and other leaflets, so we expect each seat to cost us around £2000 to fight.
But don’t worry! We won’t be expecting you to put up this money yourself. Depending on how much sponsorship we raise between now and the elections, we hope to be able to pay most of these costs if you decide to stand.
Standing in local elections is much cheaper, there are no deposits to pay and constituencies are much smaller so there are less travel and leafleting costs.
How will I know what to do?
Before the next elections, we will be producing training packs for both type of elections, telling you what you have to do and helping you campaign more effectively. As a candidate you can do as little or as much campaigning as you have time for.
The only commitment you must be able to make is a willingness to appear publicly as part of your campaign. This need not mean lots of public speaking, but you must at least be comfortable with your identity becoming known locally and be happy that this will not have an adverse effect on your children. (The last thing we want to encourage people to do by standing is to effect their contact or the emotional health of their children).
