New access fund for London candidates – how you can help

We all know standing as a candidate involves huge personal and financial sacrifices. I'm always grateful to everyone who puts themselves forward - whether as a "paper" candidate flying the flag for the party, or even as a target seat candidate dedicating all hours of the day to the party.

For next year's elections in London we will shortly be selecting our Mayoral candidate and 25 candidates for the London Assembly. Those candidates' ability to lead and motivate our activists and to promote our messages is going to be critical to our performance at these elections. And the high profile London elections are an early opportunity to show the Lib Dem fightback in action.

But it is also critical that our field of candidates reflects the diversity of London in all its aspects.

We know our ability to communicate with all Londoners will be strengthened by presenting a field of candidates who reflect the city's diversity. But we also understand the costs and sacrifices involved in attending hustings, community events, and local party campaign days.

That's why I thought we might experiment with crowd-sourcing to create an "Access fund" so that all our London candidates who get selected are able to play a full role in the campaign. We could use the fund to reimburse candidates for childcare costs, travel costs, lost hours at work for candidates on low incomes, or additional costs faced by candidates with disabilities.

I'd hope we could raise a significant sum (I'm targeting £5,000, perhaps I'm an optimist?) that could make a real difference to candidates in next year's election. And if it's successful, it would also send a powerful message to encourage even more diverse candidates to put themselves forward in future.

I'm sure there are plenty of practical questions like who'd decide how the money gets spent. I'd suggest that selected candidates could apply for an access grant to an independent panel e.g. former London candidates like Susan Kramer, Lynne Featherstone, Meral Ece and Regional Chair Mike Tuffrey. Suggestions in the comments are most welcome!

I've spoken to Mike who is really keen on the idea, so I'm going to kick it off by donating £250 myself. If you agree this is worthwhile then do please join me in making a donation via the London Region bank account here, however small, and we'll keep a running log of how much we've raised.

Together I hope we can make sure all our candidates, whatever their personal circumstances, can play a full role in the campaign.

* Dominic Mathon is a member in Islington and at various times has been a deliverer, canvasser and volunteer agent but has absolutely no desire to hold elected office.