High Peak Liberal Democrats

John Pugh MP writes…Two lessons from Thursday

In Southport last Thursday we did something no party has ever done before in Southport's history- won all the council seats by healthy margins. Not everyone knows where Southport is but its on the northern tip of the Merseyside region on the Lancashire coast. On Thursday I was puzzled when contacted by the press department expressing worry about the defection of one of my councillors. It turned out it was a bloke in Stockport who had defected. Easy mistake to make if you are from London.

Southport is part of Sefton MBC which has big wards averaging 12,000. During the Coalition most of Merseyside fell like dominoes to Labour including the Sefton seats outside Southport leaving us (Southport) an isolated fortress. This year it was different with Richard Kemp and Kris Brown spearheading a heroic revival in Liverpool and gains made in Knowsley. The only sadness was that in some other areas of Merseyside where we had taken successive kickings in previous years the will to win and the belief that we could was not there. Hopefully that won't be the case in 2018 or in the counties in 2017.

Conclusion number one therefore is that the atmosphere is changing but more self-belief is needed.

Conclusion number 2 is that every election is different and we ignore that at our peril. Our Scottish and Welsh colleagues struggling with insurgent nationalism simply weren't operating in the same political environment as we were. In London voting by first and second preference worked against the customary Tory, polarising, dog-whistle tactics.

Nor did all winners campaign in exactly the same way or losers make the same mistakes.

Victory went to those who got the local tactics right. The Southport constituency recognising the diverse character of the communities that make it up ran 7 campaigns around a few central themes- a bit like jazz improvisation. People could do worse than speak to regular Voice posters - Councillors Simon Shaw and Tony Dawson about their respective success in two very different wards.

My plea to our new Director of Campaigns, the excellent Shaun Roberts is to get this kind of dialogue going- let's learn more from each other in a collegial way, spread good practice, be fleet of foot. Effective political campaigning can be taught but even in this age of mass databases the hard truths of it are learnt and applied in real time in particular circumstances and places.

It's a science but it's also an art and everyone who cares for their art wants to know more about it. Mark Pack on his website has been exemplary in cultivating this attitude. Humility is not a sign of ignorance. For the party that does not sit down after the victory cheers have died down and ask itself ,"Now what went wrong ?" won't be cheering for long.

* John Pugh is the MP for Southport and is Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Education Spokesperson.

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