London says 'no' in AV referendum
A round-up of the last eight months
I must admit that when the AV referendum was announced I found it hard to understand why this seemingly pointless battle was being fought at all. However, as the question was being put to the country, I had to consider whether I would vote ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Although it wasn’t clear at first, it became apparent that AV really wasn’t the system for the United Kingdom or indeed for any other country. The decision to go for ‘no’ was then quite simple.
When I stood for the Chairmanship of London Conservative Future my goal was always to help secure a mayoral victory for Boris Johnson in 2012, fighting a referendum beforehand hadn’t really appeared on the radar. However, with the Party's backing No to AV, the referendum offered a singular opportunity for London CF to develop and test its campaigning capability. Without local elections in the Capital the No to AV Get out the Vote (GOTV) exercise is very similar to that we will have to deploy for Boris. This was therefore a dry-run for elections to come.
Everyone on the London CF Team, no matter their involvement, all play an indirect part in campaigning. The debates, socials, training, social action, tours and young professional events all contribute towards a CF activist force that feel engaged with the Party, as well as each other, and are motivated to turn out and campaign.
The No Result
In London, in 27 of the 33 local authority areas, the majority of voters rejected a switch from the first-past-the-post system to the alternative vote (AV). Of the Londoners who voted, 60.47% voted against while 39.53% voted in favour. A total of 1.86 million people voted (35.4%) this, despite being the lowest turnout of all regions in the UK, was still much higher than many commentators expected.
Camden, Islington, Haringey, Lambeth, Hackney and Southwark were among the few areas in the UK where more people voted Yes to AV.
Although not immediately apparent this is a performance to be proud of and one should not forget the impact CF activities in the Capital will have had on the rest of the country. London CF's countless leaflet drops, street stalls, calls at GenEVA and GOTV activities all helped contribute to this result and everyone played a crucial part.
The People Who Make it Happen
It took a while to build the London CF team up to where it is now yet nothing made me prouder than to see everyone pulling together and working autonomously within the structure we created.
Einy Shah, London CF Deputy-Chairman Political, brought about one of the best campaigns that youth politics has ever witnessed! Einy liaised with the teams at CCHQ and No to AV, and especially Theodora Clarke, to ensure that no gaps were left in the front-line during the final weeks. She has shown she will be a campaigner to watch closely in the future.
All the Area Chairmen also put on a spectacular show executing local campaigns that made the difference in every corner of the city. In the end I lost count of the Super Saturdays, Campaign Days and stalls that were organised by each Area! This localised system is really the way we want CF to progress with the Executive Team providing only the ‘glue’, support and the direction that enables branches and Areas to flourish independently.
The most important part of this is always the CF activists who get involved on the ground; braving the rain in the cold and getting the paper cuts or blisters. Without them of course nothing would happen and there would be no future for the Party.
The Road Ahead
We have achieved so much in London that I can hardly fit it all in to an article people might actually finish reading! Suffice to say that the AV referendum result, as well as the National Excellence Award we won for increasing Membership, have been our crowning achievements. When celebrating with fellow supporters of the "No to AV" campaign at London's Excel Centre we received many congratulatory complements from senior figures in the Party and from CCHQ.
But there is always more to be done and we can’t forget that the London Mayoral election is now only a year away. We need to capitalise on these recent successes as we will need to do even better in future. As friendly and positive as the collaboration with Labour during No to AV was, we certainly can't rely on cross-party support to stave off the threat of Ken Livingstone so we will have make even more concerted efforts when backing Boris all the way to City Hall.
With this track record in mind I will seek re-election at the next Conservative Future elections and fully expect key players such as Einy Shah and Ali Azeem to rejoin the team so that we can guide the organisation through to further triumphs!
For now be proud of yourselves, feel proud of our achievements and don't be afraid to be proud of CF!
Nicolas Clark - London CF Chairman
Join the CF Young Professionals with the Rt Hon Nick Herbert MP and others at the RAC Club to celebrate the referendum result
Keep the date free for the Boris Fundraiser on Monday 13th June
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