General Election Campaign Advice for ERSA Members

The General Election is now just 24 days away, and with candidates now confirmed and nominations closed, it’s the perfect time to start to contact your local candidate’s.

If you do not know who your local candidates, or you just want to check, you can find out here.

Local hustings are a chance for local candidates to lay out their policies and plans in a bid to win votes and are usually organised by local charities, community groups, religious groups, schools, and local media. There is no fully compiled list of hustings across the UK, but if you keep an eye out in local media such as newspapers, or you can ask your local candidates when a hustings is then you should be able to find out more information.

At these hustings you may be able to ask a question, have some prepared questions ready to go focusing on the work that your organisation does and what the candidate would do if elected to support your work and the rest of the UK Employability sector.

Another way of getting questions answered and raising an issue with candidates is to contact them personally, through phone calls, letters, emails or social media. Most candidates have public contact details which can be found on their leaflets and other literature when its posted through your door, or it may be available online via their local party website. This information is mostly collated here, but it is not 100% complete so some extra digging may be required.

You may also wish to invite all candidates to come to visit your organisation and have a more one-to-one chat with them and get more assurances of their support. Most candidates will be free most days during the election campaign and will most likely be happy to come and visit. They may wish to use their social media also. Make sure they tag your organisation and use any hashtags that you use to help promote your work to the local community.

On a final legal note, due to UK electoral law, it is a requirement that no preferential treatment is shown to one candidate. This means if you plan on asking a candidate for a pledge you must extend this invite to all candidates – this is the same for social media and visits. However, if you intend to contact your local candidates as an individual rather than as an organisation, it is not required, but would be recommended to maintain good practice.

If you have any further questions or would like any support or help please contact Cameron Ball, ERSA’s Communications and Public Affairs Officer – Cameron.ball@ersa.org.uk / 020 3757 9415)